Tadhg is a Partner in the firm’s Litigation Department, where he focuses his practice on appellate and complex civil litigation.
Tadhg has extensive experience handling appeals in state and federal courts throughout the country. Among other recent successes, he helped a municipality overturn a $6.8 million verdict in the Connecticut Supreme Court, a dental practice overturn a $3.7 million verdict in the Georgia Supreme Court, and a partnership overturn a decision enforcing a $3.6 million foreign judgment in the New York Appellate Division. He was part of the team that obtained a unanimous reversal in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a foreign sovereign and its largest cultural institution and is currently representing a major insurer in dozens of state and federal appeals concerning coverage for COVID-19 claims.
At the trial level, Tadhg has represented clients confronting a variety of legal challenges, including defamation and libel suits, consumer class actions, alleged Title IX violations, and lawsuits concerning institutional responses to sexual abuse. He has particular expertise in media and First Amendment law, having defended both national and local news organizations in defense of defamation suits and responses to subpoenas. Tadhg prevailed in one of the first cases to test Connecticut’s “anti-SLAPP” statute and has frequently litigated the scope and application of that statute in state court. Tadhg has also counseled and represented municipalities and officials in connection with election law and universities and other nonprofits in connection with institutional responses to sexual abuse.
Tadhg has devoted significant time to pro bono matters at the trial and appellate levels. Along with Dave Roth, he runs the Appellate Litigation Project at Yale Law School, supervising students representing indigent clients in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits. He has been honored by Connecticut Legal Services for his pro bono work on behalf of a single mother facing a defamation lawsuit and received Wiggin and Dana’s Pro Bono Achievement Award in connection with his successful appeal of an Espionage Act sentence in the Second Circuit.
Tadhg joined Wiggin and Dana following a clerkship with Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He previously clerked for Judge Robert N. Chatigny of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. Between his clerkships, Tadhg worked as an associate at Ellis & Winters LLP in Raleigh, North Carolina, where his practice focused primarily on the needs of university clients. He earned his J.D. from Duke University School of Law, where he was Executive Editor of the Journal of Law & Contemporary Problems and the winner of the Dean’s Cup Moot Court Competition, and received his B.A. from Boston University.
Updated Sep 2023
