The women’s movement is a long and still incomplete struggle for women’s rights. #ME TOO is the latest chapter and has been headlined by rich and powerful men who have abused women including Weinstein, Ailes, Cosby and dozens more. We might be tempted to think that the sexual abusers, and their victims, are confined to the world these men live in. It isn’t. It is a problem everywhere. It is appalling that our daughters and granddaughters might have to deal with discrimination and sexual harassment.
Our wives and daughters will find the presentation and discussion especially interesting. Please encourage them to join us.
Full Bio’s
Weston native Susan F. Filan, Esq., and former MSNBC Senior Legal Analyst and NBC News legal analyst, and former Connecticut state prosecutor, is Of Counsel to Cohen and Wolf in Westport, Connecticut.
An accomplished trial lawyer, Attorney Filan provides clients with criminal defense and matrimonial representation. In addition to her litigation background, Filan has added mediation to her diverse repertoire of services.
Filan comes at her profession from a paradoxically spiritual, yet pragmatic and iron fisted view point, putting into her daily practice what she takes from her own heart and experience. Versatile and more humane than her remarkable credentials suggest, Filan has much to offer clients who face real challenges in their lives.
Filan began her career in 1991 as a tough, fair minded advocate as a Special Public Defender at a New Haven legal aid clinic, representing indigent defendants charged with crimes. She then entered private practice, first in New Haven and then in Bridgeport, with a concentration in criminal defense and matrimonial law at both the trial and appellate levels, in both state and Federal courts. In 1998, she was appointed Deputy Assistant State’s Attorney in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney in the Gang and Continuing Crime Unit. Thereafter, she became an Assistant State’s Attorney in Bridgeport.
Dynamic change is something Filan knows about. In May 2005, she was hired by NBC News and MSNBC to provide exclusive legal analysis of the Michael Jackson trial from Santa Maria, CA. Filan became NBC News’ go-to legal analyst, often appearing on The Today Show. In 2006, she was promoted to MSNBC Senior Legal Analyst.
With a talent for explaining complex legal issues in a compelling yet accessible way, Filan has shared her insights on a number of high profile cases, including those of O.J. Simpson, David Letterman, Tiger Woods, and Jon Benet Ramsey. Filan has dissected the legal troubles of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Bernie Madoff, bringing a wealth of practical courtroom experience to TV viewers with her entertaining, incisive, and no-nonsense approach.
Filan has appeared on every major network to include NBC, ABC, CBS, BBC, CNN, Fox News, “Larry King Live”, and is quoted in print media around the world.
Filan is admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court; United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; United States District Court for the District of Connecticut; and the State of Connecticut. Filan is a member of the Connecticut, Greater Bridgeport Bar and Fairfield County Bar Associations, and of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. She is a member of the Family and Criminal Law Sections of the Greater Bridgeport and Fairfield County Bar Associations. Filan serves as a special master, appointed by the Superior Court, to mediate divorce and custody disputes in the Regional Family Trial Docket in Middletown.
Attorney Filan grew up in a family of lawyers. It is in her blood. Her father is retired state Appellate Court Judge Frederick A. Freedman; her uncle is retired U.S. District Court Judge Alan H. Nevas; and her late great uncle, Leo Nevas, something of a local legend who, at the age of 97, was still practicing law.
COURTNEY A. GEORGE is a principal and chair of Cohen and Wolf, P.C.’s Employment & Labor Group. She is also a member of the firm’s Physicians Practice, Litigation, Municipal and Appellate Groups. Resident in the firm’s Bridgeport office, Ms. George practices in the areas of employment and labor law and commercial litigation. She represents private and public employers in employment litigation, contract negotiations and counseling.
Ms. George has defended employment and workers compensation discrimination claims in state and federal court and in agency proceedings and has litigated restrictive covenant, breach of contract and business tort claims. She has represented clients in employment-related agency investigations and regularly counsels clients on personnel matters, including employee handbooks, pre-employment, disciplinary and termination protocols; employee classification; trade secret and non-competition restrictions; and compliance with employment-related laws, including wage and hour, USERRA, labor laws and anti-discrimination laws. Ms. George also has represented employers and employees in severance negotiations. She lectures on employment law topics and conducts workplace anti-discrimination/anti-harassment training.
Ms. George also practices in the areas of commercial and probate litigation and has represented clients in probate and state courts in will contests and in fiduciary removal proceedings.
She is admitted to practice in Connecticut and the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. In October 2011, Ms. George was sworn into the U.S. Supreme Court bar.
Ms. George is a member of the American Bar Association (Labor & Employment Section), Connecticut Bar Association (Litigation Section, Labor & Employment Section, Business Torts Committee and Women in the Law Subcommittee) and Greater Bridgeport Bar Association.
Active in the community, Ms. George is a board member of the Women’s Business Development Council and the Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut. She formerly served as Chair of the Greater Valley Chamber Women in Networking (2013). She is recognized by Connecticut Super Lawyers (2013-2018) in the category of Employment Litigation: Defense, and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America© (2016-2019) for her work in the area of Labor & Employment. In 2019, Ms. George was named a “Labor & Employment Star-Northeast” by Benchmark Litigation.
Ms. George received her B.A., with distinction, in 1990, from McGill University and her J.D. from Boston College Law School in 2001.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_VvJ3o6ROg