Freiman, Jonathan M.
Wiggin and Dana LLP
One Century Tower
265 Church Street
Post Office Box 1832
New Haven, CT 06508-1832
Phone: (203) 498-4584
Fax: (203) 782-2889
Contact Us
Websites associated with this firm:http://www.wiggin.comSummary
Current Employment Position(s)
Partner
Lawyer Overview
Jonathan M. Freiman, Chair of the Appellate and Complex Legal Issues Practice Group, is a partner in the firm's Litigation Department and Art Law practice groups. He represents companies, foundations, universities, individuals and sovereign nations in complex disputes, including transnational matters.
His current representations include the defense of title to one of Van Gogh's most famous paintings against a claim that Russia nationalized it in violation of international law; representation of a university in a dispute over Incan artifacts claimed by a Latin American nation; representation of a U.S. citizen in suits involving his post-9/11 incommunicado detention without charge in a naval brig; and defense of a bank in several lawsuits involving allegations of culpability for losses caused by Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
Recent appellate victories include the successful defense for a university of a Second Circuit appeal involving a Nobel Prize winner's claim to ownership of a patent, and the successful reversal of a trial court decision in a multinational reinsurance dispute.
Mr. Freiman has written on constitutional law for Lexis, on international treaty-based arbitration in the National Law Journal, and on state supreme court case law for the Connecticut Law Tribune. He has lectured in Europe, Canada and the United States, at venues including the Federalist Society and a United Nations Expert Roundtable. He has been included in the "Appellate" category in the last five editions of The Best Lawyers in America. Mr. Freiman is ranked by Chambers USA as one of the leading litigation attorneys in Connecticut.
He founded the National Litigation Project (NLP) of the Allard K. Lowenstein Clinic at Yale Law School in 2002 with Harold Hongju Koh, teaching at Yale for five years while directing the NLP's litigation work and serving as a senior human rights fellow.
Mr. Freiman received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal, and received a Keck Foundation fellowship in legal ethics and awards from the Florida Supreme Court and the Cuban-American Bar Association. After graduation he clerked for Judge Louis H. Pollak, a former Yale Law School dean, before returning to New Haven.
Areas of Practice
- Appellate
- Litigation
- Insurance
West Practice Categories
Litigation & Appeals, Insurance Law
Qualifications
Bar Admissions
- Connecticut, 1999
- Pennsylvania
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals 1st Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit
- U.S. District Court District of Connecticut
- U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia
Professional Associations and Memberships
- American Bar Association
Honors and Awards
- Listed in the last two editions of The Best Lawyers in America (2006 & 2007)
- Advocacy of the Law Award from the Connecticut Law Tribune
- McQuillan Public Service Award from the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association
Past Employment Positions
- Judge Louis H. Pollak, Clerk
Education
- Yale Law School, New Haven, Connecticut,
1998
J.D.
Law Journal: Yale Law Journal, Senior Editor - Oberlin College,
1987
B.A.
Honors: Phi Beta Kappa
Office Information
Address
One Century Tower
265 Church Street
Post Office Box 1832
New Haven, CT 06508-1832
Phones
(203) 498-4584
Faxes
(203) 782-2889
