(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is nominating 14 individuals to serve as judges of the Connecticut Superior Court. The nominees are each being selected to fill one of 20 vacancies that currently exist on the court.
“Selecting nominees to become judges is one of the most important duties of a governor, and this class of nominees have the qualifications and meet the high standards the people of Connecticut deserve on the bench,” Governor Lamont said. “I am proud that our administration has a record of selecting nominees who’ve expanded the diversity, backgrounds, and professional experiences of those who serve our court system.”
The Office of the Governor is immediately forwarding notification of these nominations to the Connecticut General Assembly for its advice and consent.
The nominees include:
Campbell D. Barrett, 56, of Durham
Barrett graduated from Trinity College and obtained his Juris Doctor degree from American University’s Washington College of Law. He is a partner at Pullman and Comley, where he serves as co-chair of the Family Law and Appellate practice groups. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial lawyers. In addition, he serves on both the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee and the Connecticut Child Support Guideline Commission.
Jeffrey R. Beckham, 62, of Tolland
Beckham graduated from Florida State University (FSU) and the FSU College of Law. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the FSU College of Law. He is currently serving as senior advisor to the secretary of the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management (OPM). He previously served as the office’s secretary from March 2022 to December 2025, and as undersecretary for legislative affairs from April 2019 to March 2022. He also previously served as staff counsel at the Connecticut Department of Administrative Affairs, which followed previous stints at OPM and the former Connecticut Department of Public Works.
Theodore M. Doolittle, 62, of West Hartford
Doolittle graduated from Harvard University and the University of Connecticut School of Law. He most recently served as a U.S. immigration judge in Hartford from 2023 to 2025. Previously, he was the healthcare advocate for the State of Connecticut, heading a state agency that provides free legal services to families fighting health insurance claim denials. He has served in a variety of public and private sector roles, including as a senior anti-fraud official within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, assistant attorney general with the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General, and trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice. After law school, Doolittle clerked for federal trial and appellate court judges in South Dakota and Washington, D.C.
Patrick M. Fahey, 57, of Glastonbury
Fahey graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He is a partner at Shipman and Goodwin LLP, where he has practiced in the areas of complex litigation, appellate, and intellectual property litigation for nearly 30 years. Most recently he chaired that firm’s business litigation practice.
Sean Kehoe, 53, of West Hartford
Kehoe graduated from Providence College and obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law. He is currently an associate attorney general and chief of the Government Administration Division for the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General. Kehoe has been employed with the office for his entire career as an attorney since joining that office 24 years ago.
Felice Gray-Kemp, 57, of Hamden
Gray-Kemp graduated from Yale University and obtained her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Connecticut. She is currently a self-employed attorney and is affiliated with Unified Law (a fractional law department corporation). Prior to this, Gray-Kemp was an attorney for such Connecticut companies as United Technologies, Amphenol Corporation, and Chemtura Corporation.
Nisa Khan, 38, of West Hartford
Khan graduated from St. John’s University and obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Albany Law School. She is an assistant attorney general with the Child Protection Section of the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General, where she manages the section’s statewide appellate practice and represents the Department of Children and Families before the Appellate Court and Supreme Court. She has also served as a trial attorney and supervisor for the Hartford region. Prior to joining the Office of the Attorney General, Khan was a research attorney with Connecticut’s Judicial Branch, assisting the Office of the Chief Court Administrator and chief administrative judges in the development of educational programs and resources for judges. Khan has also served as a legal research law clerk for judges of the Superior Court.
Seán McGuinness, 41, of Norwalk
McGuinness graduated from Quinnipiac University and obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law. He is currently a supervisory assistant state’s attorney in the Bridgeport State’s Attorney’s Office, Geographical Area #2 Courthouse. In addition to this, he also works as an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University School of Law, Quinnipiac University, and the University of New Haven.
Philip Miller, 57, of Glastonbury
Miller graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He currently works at the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General, where he serves as the section chief of the Financial and Revenue Services section. He previously worked in the Special Litigation section of the office for nineteen years. Prior to that, he clerked at the Connecticut Supreme Court and the District Court for the District of Connecticut. He also is a retired captain in the United States Navy Reserve.
Leah Pollard, 58, of Pomfret
Pollard graduated from the University of Connecticut and obtained her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Colorado. She is presently an attorney with Connecticut Legal Services. Pollard previously served for 17 years as the probate judge for the Northeast Probate Court and as the administrative judge for the Northeast Regional Children’s Probate Court. Prior to that, she was in private practice in Pomfret.
Patrick T. Ring, 48, of Windsor
Ring graduated from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas and obtained his Juris Doctor from Quinnipiac University School of Law. He is currently an assistant attorney general in the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General, serving in the Financial and Revenue Services section. He has been in that position for over sixteen years, representing the state and several state agencies in court, with a focus on banking, securities, insurance, taxation, and consumer financial protection. Prior to his current position, Ring began his career as a law clerk to the Honorable Dominic J. Squatrito, United States District Judge, in Hartford.
John Shaban, 61, of Redding
Shaban graduated from Pace University School of Law in 1993 cum laude and with an ABA certified environmental law degree. He is currently a partner at Levine and Levine PLLC, working primarily as a commercial litigator and business lawyer. He also serves as a Superior Court magistrate and was recently hired as an adjunct faculty member at Post University to teach legal studies. Shaban served as a state representative in the Connecticut General Assembly from 2011 through 2017, serving on the Judiciary Committee, the Finance Revenue and Bonding Committee, and as ranking member on the Environment Committee.
Rosemarie Weber, 57, of Granby
Weber graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and obtained her Juris Doctor from Quinnipiac University School of Law. Currently, she works for the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General as a deputy associate attorney general and section chief of the Infrastructure and Economic Development section, managing diverse and complex litigation for four state agencies. She also served in the Child Protection section, representing the state in child abuse and neglect cases at trial and appellate level. Prior to joining the office, she spent more than a decade as a trial lawyer in private practice. She is a veteran who served in the United States Army.
Justine Whalen, 41, of Branford
Whalen graduated from the University of Connecticut and obtained her Juris Doctor Degree from Northeastern University School of Law. She is currently an assistant public defender for the New Haven Judicial District. She has worked in the Connecticut Division of Public Defender Services for the past seven years. She previously served as a public defender with the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Boston for eight years. Before beginning her career as a public defender, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable William Meade at the Massachusetts Appeals Court.