Polito & Harrington Personal Injury Lawyer, Humbert J. Polito, Jr. was recently selected as 2024 “Lawyer of the Year” for Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs in the New London, CT area. Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year,” making this accolade particularly significant. These lawyers are selected based on particularly impressive voting averages received during the peer-review assessments. Receiving this designation reflects the high level of respect a lawyer has earned among other leading lawyers in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, their professionalism, and their integrity. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Bert has previously been named Best Lawyers’ New London Area Lawyer of the Year for Plaintiffs’ Personal Injury Litigation 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2024. Bert has also been designated as one of the top 50 attorneys in the State of Connecticut by Connecticut Super Lawyers®. In April of 2016, Bert was honored to be named a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, which limits membership to 500 Fellows from the United States. Bert has been admitted to practice law in Connecticut since 1986, and in Rhode Island since 1987. His practice has focused exclusively on plaintiff’s personal injury litigation. In his work, Bert seeks to promote consumer and patient safety, and is particularly proud of two of his cases, one by verdict and the other by settlement. The former involved a product liability verdict in favor of a burn victim, wherein the Court ordered that product safety data in the possession of a non-party foreign manufacturer be produced over the objection of a defendant seller here in America. Bert also being designated as one of the top 50 attorneys in the State of Connecticut by Connecticut Super Lawyers® is involved the settlement of a hospital malpractice case on behalf of a family which included the hospital’s implementation of patient safety procedures, as well as the designation of a family member to a working hospital committee seeking to improve patient safety. A number of the cases Bert has resolved have been in excess of one million dollars. Bert is listed in Best Lawyers in America, in Connecticut and New England Super Lawyers, and admitted to the United States Supreme Court.

Joseph T. Coppola II is Polito & Harrington’s newest associate, joining the firm after working at a Fortune 500 insurance company, where he handled employment matters all across the United States, including cases involving discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination. Joe is the oldest of five children, born and raised in Madison, Connecticut. Joe is a graduate of Bryant University and Roger Williams University School of Law. At Roger Williams, Joe was awarded academic scholarships during each of his three years at the school based on academic merit. Joe also received recognition from the Feinstein Center for outstanding commitment to pro bono legal service, having performed over 100 pro-bono service hours within the community during his time in law school. In addition to his involvement within the school, Joe was fortunate enough to gain a great deal of experience through internships in his spare time. Joe served as a legal intern for the Rhode Island Department of Revenue, the Rhode Island Office of the General Treasurer, and as a law clerk for a firm focused on cases involving personal injury, products liability, and premises liability. During his third year in law school, Joe was accepted into two competitive programs which promote experiential education; The Roger Williams Business Start-up Clinic and the Corporate Counsel Externship Program. At the Business Start-up Clinic, Joe was one of only two students who worked at the clinic as an advanced student practitioner with a temporary license from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Joe not only gained valuable experience in advising and assisting clients with entity formation issues, contracts, articles of incorporation, trademark applications, as well as applications to form 501-(c)(3) corporations, but he also maintained a role as a supervisor and advisor to other clinic members and assisted them with their respective clients. In addition to his work with the Business Start-up Clinic, Joe simultaneously participated in Roger Williams’ Corporate Counsel Externship program, where he was offered a externship position in the legal department at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island under the company’s general counsel. Joe gained valuable exposure to the healthcare industry, medical claims, and general insurance knowledge that to this day allows him to better serve his clients who may be suffering from life changing injuries. Today, Joe proudly represents clients who have been injured in personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, and medical malpractices cases, both in Connecticut State Court and in the Tribal Courts for Connecticut’s two casinos, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. In his spare time, Joe enjoys hiking, camping, archery, and restoring musical instruments.

Attorney Jason C. Goddard is an experienced criminal defense lawyer who has handles serious criminal cases in Connecticut, New York and CT District Court.

Jim Bergenn's practice is comprised of complex criminal and civil litigation, including white collar crime and government investigations, personal injury and wrongful death cases, and other trials involving significant consequences. With more than 40 years trial lawyer experience and a trial skills teacher at UConn Law for over 35 years, other lawyers and clients call Jim regularly to seek his trial skills, and experience with investigations and experts, in many different kinds of contested cases. Jim’s wide range of criminal cases includes representing targets of investigations, criminal defendants, grand jury and other witnesses, and crime victims. Because he handles personal injuries, he often helps victims during and after criminal cases are brought to obtain the right compensation for their harm. He works in cases prosecuted by all the various federal, state and local authorities, such as the US Attorney’s Office, The Chief State’s Attorney’s Office, State and Federal Grand Juries, the FBI, the State Police, the SEC, the DEA, the ATF, the DOD, the IRS, the FDA, the FTC, the Office of Inspector General for various Federal Agencies, state regulators such as the Attorney General, the DEP, the DOH, the DMR, the DCF, and the Office of Consumer Protection, and local police.