Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1526052
16 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | SEPTEMBER 2, 2024 FOCUS | Law Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, known for winning the largest settlement in history against a gun-maker on behalf of Sandy Hook victims' families, has grown to its highest attorney headcount following the recent hiring of lawyers Ryan Daugherty (left) and Margaret Donovan. HBJ PHOTOS | STEVE LASCHEVER Targeted Defense Growing CT law firm that won settlement for Sandy Hook families gains national reputation in gun-maker liability cases KKB also recently sued Smith & Wesson, which produced the M&P 15, an AR-15-style weapon, used to fire 83 shots into a crowd of parade attendees in Highland Park, Illinois on July 4, 2022. Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, was one of the seven people killed. His wife, Maria, was also shot, along with their 13-year-old grandson. Both survived. KKB is suing the gun-maker on behalf of the Uvaldo family and a group of other survivors. Military experience The military-grade weapons used by the shooters are a subject familiar to Margaret Donovan, one of KKB's two new attorneys. She brings specialized knowledge of munitions to the firm, based on six years of experience each at the Departments of Defense and Justice. She joined the Army in 2012 as a member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps. She was the primary legal adviser and trial counsel for a Special Forces unit, taking a variety of cases to court-martial, from AWOL incidents to violent sexual assaults — with the added stress of being in combat zones. For her first active-duty assignment, she was deployed to South Korea, at a time when North Korea Presi- dent Kim Jong Un was threatening nuclear destruction. She remembers when, less than a By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordusiness.com A midsize Connecticut law firm that has gained a national reputation as a social justice crusader recently hired two new attor- neys with experience fighting battles at the highest levels, in fields outside of the law. Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, known for winning the largest settlement in history against a gun-maker on behalf of Sandy Hook victims' families, has grown to its highest attorney headcount ever as it seeks to hold two more gun-makers liable for mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and High- land Park, Illinois. Including the two new hires, KKB now has 24 attorneys, up from 19 in January 2021. During the same time, it has increased its total number of staff from 34 to 42. After every mass shooting in the United States, the Bridge- port-based firm receives calls from families looking for answers — and legal options. "We have sort of become the firm that families turn to across the country if there's a mass shooting," said Josh Koskoff, a partner with KKB, grandson of the firm's founder, Ted Koskoff, and son of Michael Koskoff — the two Koskoffs after whom the firm is named. The firm's lofty ambitions often pit its attorneys against monolithic companies, in cases that seem to have David-vs.-Goliath odds. "My grandfather was almost blindly devoted to the little guy," Koskoff said in a recent interview. "The littler, and the more unempowered, the more outside-the-Beltway the plaintiff, the more he loved the challenge of representing them." Earlier this year, KKB filed a lawsuit against Georgia gun-maker Daniel Defense on behalf of 31 family members of victims of the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. The 18-year-old gunman used an AR-15-style rifle to kill 19 children and two teachers, injuring several others. The lawsuit argues that the company marketed semiautomatic weapons to the shooter before he turned 18. "I would say it's even more incendiary, even more reckless and irresponsible, than the marketing we all saw (in the Sandy Hook case)," Koskoff said. "It's not surprising that these kids who are in the throes of adolescence, and grievances and challenges, take to these messages to kill." AT A GLANCE Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder Industry: Law firm Top Executive: David M. Bernard, Managing Attorney HQ: 350 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport Lawyers: 24 Employees: 42 Website: www.koskoff.com Contact: 475-766-5116