Biography
Linda Morkan maintains a litigation practice dedicated to appellate advocacy. She is the chair of the firm's Appellate Practice Group.
Appellate
Since joining the firm in 1988, Linda has been involved in more than 200 appeals before the Connecticut Supreme and Appellate Courts; the Rhode Island Supreme Court; the Supreme Judicial and Appeals Courts of Massachusetts; the New York Appellate Division and Court of Appeals; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, and D.C. Circuits; and the U.S. Supreme Court.
She has achieved numerous appellate wins for clients during her three-decade career. Linda has handled appeals in a number of substantive areas, including bankruptcy, environmental, insurance, reinsurance, regulatory, land use, tax, and probate. Her many successes include securing a dismissal of an appeal by a citizens' group which tried to prevent the transfer of a nuclear power facility, and the reinstatement of a multi-million dollar arbitration award against the State of Connecticut.
She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, an honor open only to those who have practiced as an appellate advocate for at least 15 years and possess a reputation of recognized distinction. Academy membership is limited to 500 members in the United States and is by invitation only. Linda is a past recipient of the David H. Neiditz Professional Writing Award for the best-written Connecticut appellate brief. She was a volunteer adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law for more than a decade, teaching appellate advocacy skills to first-year law students.
Linda recently served as Co-Chair of the Appellate Advocacy Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, and serves as the senior topical editor in Appellate Law of the quarterly Connecticut Bar Journal. She also frequently authors articles dedicated to appellate advocacy in local, regional, and national publications.
Business Litigation
Linda has extensive experience assisting clients with litigation related to business disputes, from claims of breach of contract to fraud and unfair trade practices allegations. She has been on the winning side of many corporate and partnership disputes, including actions commenced under the Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Franchise Act. In a recent dispute involving multiple promissory notes in a development deal gone sour, she persuaded the state Supreme Court to uphold the legitimacy of the notes as a matter of law, remanding the action only for a calculation of interest and attorneys’ fees.
Following her graduation from law school, Linda served as law clerk to the Honorable Daniel F. Spallone of the Connecticut Appellate Court.
She has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America© in the area of Appellate Law since 2008, and selected to the Connecticut Super Lawyers from 2006 to 2022. She also contributes to the firm’s Massachusetts Appellate Blog.