Gov. Dannel P. Malloy nominated Judge Ingrid L. Moll as a judge of the Appellate Court and 11 lawyers as judges of the Superior Court on Tuesday, leaving for another day his choice to be chief justice of Connecticut’s highest court, the Supreme Court.
Moll, 44, of West Hartford is the daughter of Norwegian immigrants and a former law clerk to state Supreme Court Justice David M. Borden, who died in 2016. She has been a Superior Court judge since her nomination by Malloy four years ago.
His nominations to the trial bench include former state Rep. James F. Spallone, D-Essex, and Robert W. Clark, a top adviser to Attorney General George Jepsen. His latest group of trial-court nominees has five women and six men, ranging in age from 32 to 62. With more than 40 vacancies on the Superior Court, Malloy said more nominations are coming.
“Selecting nominees to fill vacancies in our court system is one of the most important duties that a governor performs – they must possess the qualities that build a stronger, fairer Connecticut for everyone in the long run,” Malloy said. “I believe that each of these women and men will bring to the bench the diverse qualities that mirror the people of our state while also meeting the high principles and integrity that our citizens deserve.”
Malloy has made diversity an issue in his seven-plus years in office, promising to produce a judiciary that “looks like Connecticut.”
The judicial system now has 98 men and 60 women as jurists on the Superior, Appellate and Supreme courts. If his Appellate and trial court nominees are confirmed, that will increase to 104 and 66. There are now 25 black, six Hispanic and three Asian jurists. Two of the new trial nominees are black.
Judicial nominations are subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. The state Senate voted 19-16 last week to block the nomination of Associate Justice Andrew J. McDonald as chief justice.
His Superior Court nominees are:
- Barbara D. Aaron, 60, of West Hartford. Aaron is a partner at Berman, Bourns, Aaron & Dembo in Hartford. She is co-chair of the Family Law Committee of the Hartford County Bar Association. She is has a bachelor’s degree from American University and a law degree from the Brooklyn Law School.
- Eugene R. Calistro, Jr., 59, of Guilford. Calistro is senior assistant state’s attorney and special assistant to the U.S. attorney for Connecticut. He is a graduate of the University of New Haven, where he received his bachelor of arts in political science, and the Walter F. George School of Law of Mercer University, where he received his J.D. degree.
- Suzanne E. Caron, 62, of Bloomfield. Caron is a partner with Caron & Parris in Vernon, where she practices family law. She also has worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law. She is a graduate of Bates College and the UConn School of Law.
- Courtney M. Chaplin, 32, of Manchester. Chaplin is a deputy assistant state’s attorney. He is treasurer of the George W. Crawford Black Bar Association, a member of the Client Security Fund Committee, the Connecticut Bar Association’s Legislative Policy and Review Committee and its Statewide Opioid Taskforce. He is a graduate of Wofford College and the Howard University School of Law.
- Robert W. Clark, 46, of Durham. Clark serves as special counsel to the Connecticut attorney general. His duties include overseeing the office’s legislative initiatives and responding to legal and public policy inquiries from legislators, constitutional officers, and state agency heads. He previously worked in the special litigation department. He is a graduate of UConn and the UConn School of Law.
- Tracy Lee Dayton, 48, of Weston. Dayton is a partner with Levine Lee, where she is a trial and appellate lawyer, specializing in white-collar and securities enforcement defense, investigations, and complex litigation. She is a former federal prosecutor. She is a graduate of Princeton University and the Boalt Hall School of Law of the University of California at Berkeley.
- Stephanie A. McLaughlin, 45, of Stamford. McLaughlin is the executive director of the Stamford Hospital Foundation. She is former partner at Sandak Hennessey & Greco in Stamford and former assistant to the chief of staff for the Peace Corps. She is a graduate of American University and the DePaul University College of Law.
- Maureen Price-Boreland, 59, of Durham. Price-Boreland is executive director of Community Partners in Action, a nonprofit organization that provides community justice and re-entry programming for ex-offenders. She is a member of the Governor’s Cabinet on Nonprofit Health and Human Services, the Connecticut Sentencing Commission, the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Criminal Justice System, and the Steering Committee of the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance. She is a graduate of Central Connecticut State University and the University of Connecticut School of Law.
- Stuart D. Rosen, 61, of Avon. Rosen is a partner in the litigation department of Robinson & Cole in Hartford, where he has worked since 2014 as a member of the business litigation and insurance/reinsurance groups. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hartford. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and the Columbus School of Law of the Catholic University of America.
- Joseph B. Schwartz, 35, of West Hartford. Schwartz is a partner with Murtha Cullina in Hartford. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees for the University of Connecticut School of Law Foundation. He is a graduate of The George Washington University and the University of Connecticut School of Law.
- James Field Spallone, 52, of Essex. Spallone is the chief legal counsel to the Democratic caucus of the state House of Representatives, of which he was a member for 10 years. He also is the former deputy secretary of the state. He is a graduate of Williams College and the University of Connecticut School of Law.