Professional Experience
Brad Gallant, a partner in the Individual Clients Department, is resident in the firm's New Haven office. His practice includes trust and estate planning and administration, special needs planning, planning for same-sex couples and their families, planning for incapacity, and probate litigation.
Brad is the current president of the Connecticut Bar Association (CBA). He is a past chair of the CBA's Pro Bono and Legislation Review Committees and its Estates & Probate Section. Brad serves on the executive committee of the CBA's Elder Law Section and is a member of its Animal Law Committee. He is also a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association (ABA). Brad was elected a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) in 1993. He serves on ACTEC's Elder Law (Chair 2009-2012), Fiduciary Litigation and Asset Protection Committees. Brad is a life fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, a member of the American Counsel Association and a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA). Since 2006, he has been designated by Worth magazine as one of the top 100 lawyers in the United States serving individual clients. That same year, he was named one of "the top ten" of all Connecticut lawyers by Connecticut Magazine.
Brad has spoken on special needs trusts, long-term care insurance, probate litigation, the disposition of interests in trusts incident to divorce, and ethical issues in estate planning at seminars around the United States, including the annual meetings of NAELA, ACTEC and the ABA, as well as at seminars sponsored by ALI-ABA, NYU Institute of Federal Taxation, the CBA, the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, the Connecticut Probate Assembly, and other groups. In 2010, Brad was a speaker at the Texas Bar Association's annual "Advanced Estate Planning Strategies" program in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He presented a seminar on special needs planning at the 2011 ACTEC fall meeting on Coronado Island, California.
Brad has litigated a variety of matters in probate and appellate courts, including lost wills, paternity disputes, will and trust constructions, charitable trust deviations, contested conservatorships and accountings, and undue influence cases. He has appeared on behalf of clients in virtually all Connecticut probate courts as well as in numerous Connecticut and federal trial and appellate courts. He was lead counsel for the amicus curiae in the landmark Connecticut Supreme Court case, Department of Social Services v. Saunders. Brad is consulted regularly by trial counsel and testifies as an expert in trusts and estates disputes, in dissolution of marriage actions and in disabilities litigation. He also has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution of probate controversies.
Brad's interest in disabilities planning has led him to volunteer with numerous organizations that provide services to persons with special needs. In 1994 the Connecticut Probate Courts recognized his advocacy on behalf of persons with disabilities by naming him "Citizen of the Year." He is vice president of the Board of Directors of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a national organization serving Medicare recipients. Brad completed four terms as president of the New Haven Free Public Library Board of Trustees in 2009. He also provides pro bono estate planning through the CBA's program at the Connecticut Veterans' Legal Center.
Brad received a B.A., with Honors, and an M.A. from Cambridge University, England, where he was a member of Pembroke College; a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Connecticut School of Law and an LL.M. from the University of London. Brad lives in New Haven with his wife, Professor Joanna Waley-Cohen, their children, Isabel and Kit, and a beagle, Samantha.
News, Publications & Presentations
· Speaker, Connecticut Supreme Court's Law Day, May 2, 2012
· Quoted, "By Marrying, Barney Frank And His Partner Take On Legal Duties," Forbes, January 26, 2012
· Featured, "Legal Profession Battles 'Recipe for Disaster'," Hartford Business Journal, November 14, 2011
· Featured, "Fifty Day Pitney Attorneys Recognized as Super Lawyers," Day Pitney Press Release, October 24, 2011
· Featured, "Seventy-two Day Pitney Lawyers Named to Best Lawyers List for 2012," Day Pitney Press Release, October 4, 2011
· Featured, "Attorney Keith Bradoc Gallant Assumes Presidency of Connecticut Bar Association," Day Pitney Press Release, July 5, 2011
· Featured, "Day Pitney's Gallant takes CT bar reins," Hartford Business Journal, July 5, 2011
· Featured, "New CBA President To Push For Mandatory CLE," Connecticut Law Tribune, June 6, 2011
· Featured, "Fifty-seven Day Pitney Attorneys Recognized as Super Lawyers; Six Additional Lawyers Recognized as 'Rising Stars'," Day Pitney Press Release, November 12, 2010
· Featured, "Trusts and Estates Partner Keith Bradoc Gallant Named President-Elect of the Connecticut Bar Association," Day Pitney Press Release, August 17, 2010
· Featured, "Seventy-six Day Pitney Lawyers Named to Best Lawyers for 2011," Day Pitney Press Release, August 9, 2010
· Speaker, "Transactional Considerations in Creation and Succession of FLPs and Other T&E Entities," Texas Bar Association, April 8-9, 2010
· Quoted, "A Year of Questions," Connecticut Law Tribune, December 14, 2009
· Featured, "Focusing on Opportunities to Give Back," Connecticut Law Tribune, November 2, 2009
· Featured, "Fifty-six Day Pitney Partners Recognized as New England Super Lawyers," Day Pitney Press Release, October 30, 2009
· Featured, "Seventy-seven Day Pitney Partners Named to Best Lawyers 2010," Day Pitney Press Release, July 30, 2009
· Featured, "Day Pitney Partner Named New Vice President of Connecticut Bar Association," Day Pitney Press Release, June 9, 2009
· Quoted, "Adult Adoption a High-Stakes Means to an Inheritance," New York Times, May 20, 2009
· Featured, "Day Pitney's Keith Bradoc Gallant Named Among Worth Magazine's Top 100 Attorneys," Day Pitney Press Release, February 11, 2009
Awards and Achievements
· Recognized as a Connecticut Super Lawyer since 2006
· Chosen for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, Elder Law and Trusts and Estates since 2006
· Listed in Worth magazine as one of the 100 Top U.S. Attorneys representing individual clients since 2006
· Listed by Connecticut Magazine as one of the Top 10 lawyers in all practice areas in Connecticut in 2006