Remembering Dan Krisch

We were so sorry to hear of the death of our colleague and friend Daniel Krisch. We wanted to share our personal thoughts about him from both sides of the bench, as well as support his modest obituary with his background and accomplishments.

Dan was born in 1973, graduated from Columbia University and then went to UConn Law School. Dan was a full-time law clerk at Horton, Shields and Cormier the summer of 1998 and stayed there part-time during his senior year at law school, 1998-99. Wes remembers thinking soon after he arrived that, with his hard work and brilliant mind that could see through a mass of trial court materials to what were the few pieces of appellate gold, the firm was sure to make Dan an offer for a permanent job, and so it did.

Justice Ellen Ash Peters saw what Wes and his partners saw in him as he clerked for her during her final year on the Supreme Court, 1999-2000. With her pick of the litter, Justice Peters chose Dan because of his intellect, writing skill, creativity and eagerness to learn. Thereafter, Dan joined Wes’s firm, first as an associate, then as a partner in 2005.

Wes’s firm quickly gave Dan his own cases to brief and argue, so within two years he was developing his own reputation with the appellate judges and justices. They all knew Dan was thorough, trustworthy, creative, hard-working, insightful, and practical when necessary. He knew that it was important to be right, but more important to be effective.

When the firm, renamed Horton, Shields and Knox in 2002, suddenly was thrust into the spotlight in September 2004 as the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Kelo v. New London, Dan immediately volunteered to write the entire Supreme Court brief. He did so, producing an outstanding draft ahead of time. He helped to moot Wes and served as second chair at the oral argument in February 2005.

After 11 years at Horton, Shields and Knox, he joined Halloran & Sage in 2012, and in 2015 he became chair of its appellate practice group. In 2023 he left Halloran to join Murtha Cullina (now Harris Beach Murtha), where he was a partner until his death this March.

During his career Dan argued more than 120 appeals in a wide variety of subject matters. He was a member of the Connecticut Law Tribune Editorial board, as well as the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, a prestigious by-invitation-only national organization. He served for several years as chair of the membership committee of the Connecticut Supreme Court Historical Society and was involved in numerous activities of the Connecticut Bar Association. Lawyer rating agencies routinely gave him their highest marks, and he was the co-author of numerous publications on Connecticut law and procedure, including one with Judge Eliot Prescott, a leading evidentiary treatise in the state.

The legal profession is a better place because Dan was here. We will miss him.

Originally published by Law.com and reprinted with permission.