Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com March 7, 2016 • Hartford Business Journal 5 Goldman's cross-country journey lands him top lawyer spot By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com H artford trial lawyer Stephen E. Gold- man, the new managing partner of Robinson+Cole LLP, has represented insurance companies after hurricanes, ter- rorist attacks and an anthrax contamination. "You would think a narrow specialty like property insurance would be pretty dry," Goldman said. Not so. Goldman, 61, has spent his entire career at Robinson+Cole since joining in 1980, turning a mostly Connecticut-oriented first half of his career into one that took him into courthouses nationwide, including the U.S. Supreme Court. His expanded practice scope began after he represented an insurer of the Fontaineb- leau Hotel in Miami Beach following Hurricane Andrew. He came to the case six years after the 1992 storm, when the hotel sought additional property damage claims. He helped get both sides to arbitration and settle on what he called favorable terms after 23 days of hearings. That bolstered his profile, leading to what eventually became a national "catas- trophe practice," for the last 20 years, dur- ing which time he represented insurers after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, one of his more challenging roles. "You walk into a very hostile environ- ment as a lawyer for an insurance company coming in after a catastrophe and what you need to get people to realize is ... we're giv- ing advice to get the claims that should be paid, paid," Goldman said. Some judges who started off hostile to the insurers turned receptive when they saw the companies were not trying to cheat people out of money, he said. "It's a tough sorting-out process because you have claims that just aren't covered and then you have claims that are covered and should be paid. Then you have claims that are overreaching and greedy because that happens, too, in catastrophes," he said. Another interesting case emerged from anthrax delivered in the mail to the pub- lisher of tabloids including the National Enquirer, which killed the photo editor and resulted in the building's six-year shutdown in Boca Raton, Fla., until it was decontami- nated. Goldman handled the insurance claim over business interruption losses. The policy had an exclusion for loss caused by contamination, but an exception if the contamination was caused by vandalism, so the question was whether the letter was a form of vandalism within coverage, Goldman said. The case settled, but coming after 9/11 amid fears more such incidents could occur, "these were sort of cutting-edge issues" in the property insurance industry, he said. Goldman also handled business-inter- ruption cases emerging from 9/11. In the last decade or so, he's gotten heavily involved in class-action litigation. In his 2013 Supreme Court case, he suc- cessfully represented the insurer in Stan- dard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles, the first case the court reviewed involving the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. As managing partner with R o b i n s o n+ C o l e , which has about 200 lawyers in six states, Goldman wants to build on the firm's strong culture of collaboration and loyalty. Lawyers helping lawyers was instru- mental for him staying with the firm. His leadership style will include fre- quent face-to-face engagement with part- ners and using that input to help steer and grow the firm, he said. John B. Lynch Jr., managing partner for seven years before Goldman, said his successor exemplifies the firm's culture and values, and his energy, ideas and pas- sion bode well for Robinson+Cole, where Lynch has worked 32 years. "I think he's very fair and he's really shown an ability to be a team-builder," Lynch said. "Steve's had a really success- ful practice and he's helped build a suc- cessful team and other people have flour- ished working with him." Goldman and his wife, Kathryn, a doc- tor at the Burgdorf clinic in Hartford, have four grown children, three of them girls. The youngest, 19, is a freshman at Colorado Col- lege in Colorado Springs. The oldest, 24, is a Brown University graduate living in Amman, Jordan, working at an aid organization help- ing Syrian refugees. The two middle children are at Washington University in St. Louis and Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. Goldman likes to hike, bike and cross- country ski. He has bike-toured in Europe and Japan. During college summer break in 1974, he rode across the U.S. with a friend, covering 4,000 miles in 6 ½ weeks on a route that also took them over Lake Superior into Canada. n H B J P H O T O | J O H N S T E A R N S Stephen E. Goldman, the newly elected managing partner at Robinson+Cole, seen here at the firm's downtown Hartford office, has spent his entire career with the firm. PDS has been meeting the needs of the construction industry since 1965. Our dedicated team of design and construction professionals welcomes the challenge of serving its past and future customers on their most demanding projects. Foodshare | Bloomfield, Connecticut PDS was selected as Construction Manager to build a multi-story addition to the existing Foodshare building. This occupied project entailed an extensive freezer cooler system for all refrigerated food items. The project also included new offices, several overhead doors, drywall, ceilings, doors & hardware, steel, concrete, painting, and flooring. PDS completed this project on time and within budget. Project Size: 23,000 SF 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002 (860) 242-8586 | Fax (860) 242-8587 www.pdsec.com DESIGN BUILDERS • GENERAL CONTRACTORS • CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS SPOTLIGHT ON: Industrial PDS ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION, INC. THINK • PLAN • BUILD A line of credit for your short term needs with a level of support for your long term plans. Business growing? Need working capital? Speak with a business lending expert today. You'll discover a level of service that works as hard as you do. Call 860-448-4144. Or visit chelseagroton.com Stephen E. Goldman Managing partner, Robinson+Cole LLP Highest education: Law degree, New York University School of Law, 1980. Executive insights: "When I've seen successes in my own practice, it's been because I've got a lot of help from others and been able to develop a team that works well with me and works well with each other." EXECUTIVE PROFILE Check out a video clip of Goldman's interview at hartfordbusiness.com.

• Cover