Stephen E. Goldman

Steve Goldman is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and the immediate past Managing Partner of the firm. He has tried cases and prosecuted and defended appeals regarding a wide range of matters in federal and state courts throughout the United States. Steve has been actively involved in civil litigation in approximately 35 states and he has tried significant cases to verdict or judgment in many of those jurisdictions. He has also handled appeals in seven of the eleven federal circuit courts of appeal, in eight state appellate courts, and in the Supreme Court of the United States. Steve is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and has served as the Chair of the Connecticut State Committee and as a member of the Civil Procedure Committee of that organization. He also is a Fellow in the American College of Coverage Counsel and serves as a co-chair of its Property Insurance Section. He has served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, and currently serves on the board of the FDCC Foundation.

Steve is currently involved as national counsel for insurers and trade organizations in responding to the proliferation of business interruption lawsuits arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also is significantly involved in high-impact bankruptcy litigation throughout the United States, and in the defense of numerous class actions, especially those arising out of insurance coverage and market conduct issues. In prior years, Steve has served as lead national counsel and has handled numerous precedent-setting cases in matters arising from catastrophes such as Superstorm Sandy, Hurricanes Katrina and Andrew, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the anthrax scare in 2001.

Among the more significant cases Steve has handled are The Standard Fire Insurance Company v. Knowles (the Supreme Court of United States holding that plaintiff's stipulation cannot defeat federal jurisdiction under Class Action Fairness Act); Travco v. Ward (the Virginia Supreme Court upholding trial court's judgment that property insurance policies do not cover losses caused by presence of Chinese drywall); Sher v. Lafayette Insurance Company (the Louisiana Supreme Court upholding the flood exclusion in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina); Landry v. Louisiana Citizens Insurance Company (the Louisiana Supreme Court holding Louisiana's Valued Policy Law inapplicable to certain Katrina-related claims); Johnson Gallagher Magliery LLC v. Charter Oak Fire Ins. Co. (the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, granting partial summary judgment in favor of insurer in applying flood exclusion to loss of electrical power in lower Manhattan and precluding business income losses related to Superstorm Sandy power interruption); and Streamline Capital v. Hartford Insurance (refusing to adopt the time necessary to rebuild the World Trade Center as the "period of restoration" for WTC tenants).

Steve served as the firm’s Managing Partner from 2016 to 2021. During his tenure, Robinson+Cole developed and implemented a three-year Strategic Plan, improved its profitability significantly, saw growth in key business sectors - including the addition of leading national practices in bankruptcy, insurance coverage and real estate development - and oversaw the expansion of the firm’s offices in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Wilmington. He continues to serve as chair of the firm’s lateral growth committee

Steve has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America© in the area of Insurance Law since 2006, and was named the Best Lawyers® “Lawyer of the Year” in Hartford in the area of Insurance Law for 2011, 2016, and 2018. He also has been selected to the Connecticut Super Lawyers list from 2006 to 2020 and the Top 50 Connecticut Super Lawyers for 2009.