Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is nominating Robert W. Clark of Durham to fill a vacancy on the Connecticut Appellate Court.
Clark has served as Governor Lamont’s General Counsel since his term began in January 2019. At the time, Clark gave up his position as a Superior Court judge to serve in his current role. He will fill the vacancy that was created by Appellate Court Judge Douglas S. Lavine, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 in December.
“Bob has served as my General Counsel during an historic an unprecedented time for our state, including most significantly during the current pandemic,” Governor Lamont said. “He has been instrumental in working through many of the complex legal questions faced by my office during that time, and he has done it with skill, wisdom, and unwavering commitment. He has had a distinguished legal career working in the private sector representing commercial and individual clients in the Connecticut courts, as an Assistant Attorney General and Special Counsel in the Office of the Attorney General working on some of the most significant and complex legal matters facing the State of Connecticut, and as a trial judge who handled criminal and juvenile matters. As a result of his highly varied career, he brings a unique perspective to the Appellate Court that will reflect his deep understanding of how government and the private sector work and how the justice system impacts the lives of litigants in all the different areas of the law.
Clark graduated cum laude from the University of Connecticut in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. In 1997, he graduated with high honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served as an Executive Editor on the Connecticut Law Review. He began his career in private practice at the firms of Day, Berry & Howard (now Day Pitney) in Hartford, and Kramer Levin in New York City. He subsequently served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Special Litigation department of the Office of the Connecticut Attorney General, and later as Special Counsel to Attorney General George Jepsen. He then served as a Superior Court Judge in Bridgeport criminal and juvenile courts before becoming General Counsel to Governor Lamont.