In 1982, Kathryn Calibey fulfilled a lifelong dream to become the first member of her extended family to become an attorney. Her desire to help people was the driving force behind her choice to enter the legal field. Prior to attending law school she worked for approximately five yeas at New Britain Legal Services, which rendered legal assistance to the poor. She began her legal career with RisCassi & Davis with the desire to apply her skills to help those who have been injured.
Over the years at RisCassi & Davis, Kathy has developed a focus in appellate advocacy. She has been involved in more than 35 cases before the state Appellate and Supreme Courts. Her strong analytical and writing skills have contributed to her numerous appellate successes since her precedent-setting first case before the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1986, O’Connor v. O’Connor, which changed the choice of law doctrine in tort cases. Her legal scholarship has been influential in a wide range of appellate issues ranging from interpretation of contracts and statutes to evidentiary issues involving standards of proof applied to a variety of personal injury situations. She is currently a Co-Chair of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers’ Amicus Curiae Committee and has contributed to numerous amicus briefs on issues of widespread concern to injured parties. For many years, she taught at the University of Connecticut School of Law Moot Court Appellate Advocacy Program and since 2005 has been a faculty member of the Connecticut Bar Association Appellate Advocacy Institute. She is also a member of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Appellate Advocacy Committee and the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division’s Conference of Appellate Lawyers.
Kathy’s detailed and creative analysis has assisted the firm not only in the appellate arena but also during the preparation and trial stage of many negligence cases involving complex legal issues. She was selected by Best Lawyers in America, 2012 @ Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, S.C., for listing in the field of Personal Injury Litigation and was named Best Lawyers 2012 “Lawyer of the Year, Personal Injury Litigation-Hartford”. She also has been selected for inclusion in New England SuperLawyer 2011 Listing and Connecticut SuperLawyer 2008-2009, 2011-2012 Listings. In 2010 she received the Hartford County Bar Association’s President’s Award for Excellence.
Kathy has authored numerous published legal articles over the years. She served for many years on the Board of Editors for the Connecticut Bar Journal and was a Senior Editor for Civil Litigation from 1997-2010.
As an active member of numerous professional organizations, Kathy has donated significant time to assist both the legal and Hartford County community. She has been active in the Connecticut and Hartford County Bar Associations for many years. In April, 2008 Kathy was elected to serve as President during the Association’s 225th anniversary year. Kathy was also a founding Officer and Past-President of the Hartford County Bar Foundation, a non-profit corporation whose sole purpose is to raise funds to benefit Hartford County’s homeless and needy.
Kathy has been appointed to serve as a Special Master for the Connecticut State Superior Court and to serve on the Judicial Civil Jury Instruction Committee, the Standing Committee on Recommendations for Admissions to the Bar and the Civil Division Rules Task Force. She was elected as a Connecticut Bar Foundation James W. Cooper Fellow in 2001, became a life-fellow in 2008, and has served for many years on a committee compiling an oral history of Connecticut women in the legal profession and as a State High School Annual Essay Contest judge. In 2010 she was appointed to the Connecticut Bar Association’s Task Force on Civics Education in Connecticut.
Kathy received her B.A. in 1975 from the University of Connecticut and her law degree, cum laude, from Western New England University School of Law in 1982. During law school she was an editor of the Western New England Law Review and received the 1982 Benjamin Novak Award for her law review article published in 1981 and the Henry Downey Contribution Award. She is admitted to practice before the Connecticut Bar, the Federal District Court for the District of Connecticut, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.
