Overview
Insights
News
Education and Credentials
Recognition and Community
Overview
Keith Bradoc "Brad" Gallant advises individuals and families in all aspects of trust administration and estate planning. In addition to assisting with the resolution of complex legal and financial disputes he guides clients through often complicated and sensitive personal situations, such as medical and end-of-life decision-making, long-term care issues, conservatorships, commitments and guardianships of minors and developmentally disabled adults.
Brad has litigated a wide range of matters in probate and appellate courts, including lost wills, paternity disputes, will and trust constructions, charitable trust deviations, contested conservatorships, accountings and undue influence cases. He has appeared on behalf of clients in virtually all Connecticut probate courts, as well as in numerous Connecticut and federal trial and appellate courts. Brad was lead counsel for the amicus curiae in the landmark Connecticut Supreme Court case, Department of Social Services v. Saunders. He is consulted regularly by trial counsel and testifies as an expert in trusts and estates disputes, dissolution of marriage actions and disabilities litigation. He also has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution of probate controversies.
Brad has spoken on special needs trusts, long-term care insurance, probate litigation, the disposition of interests in trusts incident to divorce and ethical issues in estate planning at seminars throughout the U.S., including the annual meetings of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the American Bar Association, as well as at seminars sponsored by ALI-ABA, NYU Institute of Federal Taxation, the Connecticut Probate Assembly, the Federal Tax Institute of New England and other groups. Brad has been quoted in Forbes, Connecticut Law Tribune and The New York Times.
Brad lives in New Haven with his wife, Professor Joanna Waley-Cohen and his dog, Sadie. Brad is a former President of the Connecticut Bar Association and now serves on the CBA Standing Committee on Professional Ethics. He served four terms as President of the Board of the New Haven Free Public Library and is now a member of the NHFPL Foundation Board.
Insights
Speaker, October 27, 2023, 2023 Fall National Meeting for the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC)
Co-author, winter 2020, Day Pitney LLP
Presenter, June 10, 2019
Speaker, April 9, 2018, Connecticut Bar Association (CBA) Estates and Probate Section Open Meeting, New Haven, CT
Participant, September 15, 2017, Mid-Atlantic Fellows Meeting of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, Long Branch, NJ
News
Featured, January 2024, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel
Featured, July 20, 2023, Day Pitney Press Release
Featured, July 22, 2022, Day Pitney Press Release
Featured, July 26, 2021, Day Pitney Press Release
Featured, July 10, 2020, Day Pitney Press Release
Education and Credentials
Education
University of London, LL.M., 1979
Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, M.A., 1979
University of Connecticut School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1978
Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, B.A., with Honors, 1975
Admissions
State of Connecticut
Affiliations
American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Fellow; Board of Regents, Former Regent; Executive Committee, Former Member-at-Large; Elder Law Committee, Past Chair; Program Committee, Former Chair; Joint ACTEC/NCPJ Task Force; Fiduciary Administration Committee; Membership Selection Committee
Connecticut Bar Association, Past President; Estates and Probate Section, Executive Committee and Past Chair; Standing Committee on Professional Ethics
Connecticut Bar Foundation, Life Fellow
National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
Recognition and Community
Recognition
No aspect of these advertisements has been approved by the highest court of any state. See Awards Methodology.
Chosen for inclusion in Chambers HNW Guide (Chambers & Partners) of recognized practitioners for wealthy individuals and families in Connecticut, 2018-2023
Selected as the Trusts and Estates Lawyer of the Year for the New Haven Metro Area by The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White, Inc.), 2018
Chosen for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White, Inc.), Elder Law, 2007-2024, Litigation - Trusts and Estates, 2011-2024, Trusts and Estates, 2006-2024
Selected to the list of Connecticut Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), Estate Planning and Probate, 2006-2020
Selected as Trusts and Estates Lawyer of the Year for the New Haven Metro Area by The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White, Inc.), 2014
Recognized with Achievement Award by the Federal Tax Institute of New England, 2014
Listed as one of the Top 100 Attorneys representing individual clients by Worth magazine, 2006-2009
Listed as one of the Top 10 Lawyers in all practice areas in Connecticut by Connecticut Magazine, 2006
Named "Citizen of the Year" by the Connecticut Probate Courts, for his advocacy on behalf of persons with disabilities, 1994
Elected Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, 1993
No aspect of these advertisements has been approved by the highest court of any state. See Awards Methodology.
Community
Center for Medicare Advocacy, a national organization serving Medicare recipients, Board of Directors
New Haven Free Public Library, Board of Trustees, President, 2005-2009
New Haven Free Public Library Foundation, Board of Directors, 2021-Present