Awardee Spotlight | Joseph D. Garrison

Joseph D. Garrison will receive the Edward F. Hennessey Professionalism Award at the CBA’s annual awards celebration, Celebrate with the Stars, on Wednesday, April 3.

Attorney Garrison is a retired founding partner of Garrison Levin-Epstein Fitzgerald & Pirrotti PC in New Haven. For decades he was a leading employment lawyer in Connecticut and a nationally prominent advocate of employee rights. After retiring from the firm in 2023, Attorney Garrison continues to provide services exclusively as a mediator and arbitrator.

For fifteen years, Attorney Garrison was on the executive board of the National Employment Lawyers Association, spending three of these years as its president. For almost twenty years, he served as the organization’s representative to the Federal Rules Advisory Committee, which was charged with drafting procedural rules for the nation’s federal courts. With the advisory committee's endorsement, he co-chaired a national committee that drafted the initial discovery protocols for employment cases, which are now used in the District of Connecticut and in over 100 other federal courts.

Attorney Garrison was a charter fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and served as the college’s national president. He was as an elected member of the American Law Institute and was substantially involved in drafting the influential Restatement of Employment Law, which was published in 2015. From 2009 to 2016, he served two terms on the board of directors for the American Arbitration Association. In addition to his service on various boards, Attorney Garrison has spoken at events across the country and contributed to numerous publications on the topic of employment law.

The Edward F. Hennessey Professionalism Award recognizes and honors a member of the bar whose career has manifested a dedication to the highest ideals and standards of the legal profession.

View the full list of this year’s awardees.

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