That headline sort of says it all, doesn’t it?

Yes, as of this morning, I am now a partner at Shipman & Goodwin LLP in Hartford, CT in its Labor, Employment & Benefits Practice Area.

It’s big for a partner to change firms in Connecticut.  Not nearly as big as, say Nate Silver and his FiveThirtyEight blog leaving the New York Times to go to ESPN.  But still pretty big.

So why the change?

I wish there were some magical story, but in many ways, it comes down to the typical reasons why people change jobs: new opportunities, fresh challenges, bigger platform. Shipman has attracted some of the brightest legal minds in this state and I’m grateful they reached out to me to join that growing team.

Growing up in Connecticut, I can’t say that I paid a lot of attention to lawfirms, but the “Shipman” name was one that I knew even as a kid.  In part, it was because I grew up in Glastonbury, where the Shipman name went back generations. But it was also due to the fact that my mother was involved in education and Shipman & Goodwin was her schools’ attorneys.

The labor & employment group, led by Brian Clemow, has a particularly deep bench, but there are so many that I’m not going to even mention them by name for now for fear that I’ll leave a few out.  It was recently ranked as a “Tier 1” firm for Employment Law-Management in one rankings, and “Band 1” Labor & Employment Law Department in another.  I think they bring considerable experience to the table for companies and I’m eager to work with them.

Any talk of the future, however, also demands a look back.  I would be remiss if I did not thank my former law firm of Pullman & Comley for their years of strong support of my practice and of this blog.  The partners, associates and staff there are among the nicest group of people you’ll find anywhere in addition to being mighty fine lawyers.    Joshua Hawks-Ladds, Tim Shearin, Eliot Gersten, and Brad Mondschein deserve a special shoutout for their advice and friendship over the years.   I’m appreciative of staff members like Sally Laroche, who provided the tools for this blog to grow.  I hope to continue collaborating with them on bar projects and be able to refer them work when I may have conflicts. I will miss working with them.

So what will this mean for the blog? In the short term, not much, though you’ll see some more introductory posts as I learn my way around the new firm.  For instance, watch for a post on how changing jobs gives you a new perspective on the advice lawyers give for new hires (hint: There’s a lot of paperwork involved!).   In the long term, I hope to add a few new voices to this platform and I’ll be working on an update to freshen things up around here.

My new contact information is:

Dan Schwartz

Shipman & Goodwin LLP

One Constitution Plaza 

Hartford, CT 06103-1919 

dschwartz@goodwin.com 

860.251.5038

Fax: 860-251-5216

www.shipmangoodwin.com

Please feel free to drop me a note. I’d love to hear from you.

Today is a new beginning at Shipman & Goodwin LLP.  I look forward to sharing where this path leads us.