Photo of Lorey Rives Leddy

Lorey Rives Leddy is a member of the Litigation Department and the Appellate Practice Group.

She has over 30 years of trial and appellate experience representing both corporate, municipal and individual clients in a variety of matters in both state and federal courts in Connecticut and New York, including general commercial disputes, creditor’s rights cases, complex contract matters, construction cases, patent and trademark litigation, employment defense, and trusts and estates litigation. Lorey has extensive trial experience, conducting and second-chairing dozens of bench and jury trials, as well as arbitrations and mediations, in all of these practice areas. She has represented municipalities in various disputes, and she has handled administrative appeals for corporate clients.  She has also written numerous successful pre-trial motions and appellate briefs.

A sample of the disputes Lorey has handled includes:

  • Corporate and partnership dissolutions and disputes;
  • Employment discrimination claims;
  • ADA compliance and discrimination claims;
  • Trademark infringement claims;
  • Unfair trade practices, misappropriation of trade secrets and tortious interference claims;
  • Commercial construction disputes;
  • First Amendment claims;
  • Enforcement of non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements;
  • Post-judgment enforcement proceedings;
  • Toxic torts defense;
  • Environmental enforcement actions and disputes;
  • Land disputes; and
  • Administrative appeals before the Department of Social Services and Department of Transportation.

Lorey is also actively involved in providing pro bono representation to current and former inmates through the federal re-entry program, sponsored by the district judges in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, and through Volunteers of Legal Service’s Incarcerated Mothers Project.  Most recently, Lorey successfully moved for class certification in a federal Section 1983 civil rights lawsuit challenging living conditions at a Connecticut prison.

Upon graduating from law school, Lorey began practicing law in New York City with the firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where she had been a summer associate in 1988.  In 1993, she joined the Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Rights Division, in New York City, where she represented children in family and delinquency proceedings.  She moved back to private practice in 1998, joining the firm of Day, Berry & Howard, LLP (now Day Pitney) in Stamford, Connecticut, before opting to work part-time to raise her three children.  She returned to the full-time practice of law in 2011 with O’Rourke & Associates, LLP, joining Murtha Cullina in 2017.

Lorey also runs Murtha Cullina’s litigation training program for associates.  She has served on her town’s Advisory Committee for the Disabled since 2010, and was appointed Chairperson of the Committee in 2019.