Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 27, 2025 13 Transform Your Life, One Step at a Time When you choose Trinity Health Of New England Weight Management, you are choosing a network of regional bariatric providers who work together to offer care and share weight loss and surgery expertise. We give you the information you need to choose the best type of weight loss surgery for your needs and overall health. To learn more about your weight loss options, including our bariatric procedures, schedule an appointment today by visiting TrinityHealthOfNE.org/YWeight! TrinityHealthOfNE.org/YWeight his and his wife's personal bank accounts, including money from a scholarship fund Garza created. McKeen's demand letter says the discrepancies were so minor that they were irrelevant. McKeen's letter also cites 12 pages of threats written by Garza meant to "extract financial concessions for his new law firm." Garza read McKeen's personal emails and chat messages and planned to use them as black- mail, the letter says. McKeen further accuses Garza of impersonating him to clients and changing McKeen's out-of-office message to say that he was no longer practicing law — an "intentional misrepresentation," McKeen claims. Due to the various disputes, KeyBank froze three Connecticut Trial Firm bank accounts with a total of $300,000. In a letter, the bank said the freeze was an effort "to preserve the status quo" until their differences are resolved by a court or tribunal. Moving on Both attorneys said they look forward to putting the past behind them. McKeen has founded two new businesses with his wife: McKeen Law Firm, a solo practice that only takes five cases at a time, and Best Era LLC, a legal consulting firm. Both businesses operate from an office in Glastonbury. The small law practice gives McKeen the opportunity to provide more hands-on support to his clients, he said. "What happened is, after I left Connecticut Trial Firm, I had so many friends, family, people who knew me, who were referring cases to me," McKeen said. "I really enjoy helping people who have been hurt. And so I made the decision to create what I call 'the world's tiniest personal injury firm' and only handle five cases at a time. … It's a very small practice with no plans to grow." He said he spends most of his time working on Best Era, which has five employees, each of whom used to work at CTF. Best Era provides consulting services to small law firms, which often lack in-house marketing teams. McKeen and his colleagues train attor- neys on "the business of law," assist with cases and run focus groups. Garza, with the backing of partners from a Las Vegas-based law firm, started the law firm Claggett, Sykes & Garza, headquartered in Farmington. The firm has eight attorneys at two locations, one in Enfield and the other in a new 10,000-square-foot facility in Farmington with a mock courtroom. "We built that (courtroom) so that we can focus on training our lawyers and helping our clients and really just honing our ability to do great trial work," Garza said. "That's new, and that's something that I think is different. It sort of sets us apart." CSG has already notched a major win in court, he said. In May, the firm won a $9 million jury verdict in Middletown Superior Court on behalf of a 46-year-old who was injured at Brownstone Adventure Sports Park in Portland. Attorney Ryan McKeen (far left), and his wife, Allison (center), at the Glastonbury office of Best Era LLC. McKeen started the legal consulting firm in May 2024, after a falling out with his previous business partner. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER

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