Documented connections between a Connecticut family law firm, the judiciary, and the system that selects judges — in public records, sworn testimony, and campaign finance filings.
Jill Heitler Blomberg — the “Blomberg” in Schoonmaker, George, Blomberg, Bryniczka & Welsh — is the daughter of Hon. Sherry Klein Heitler, the retired New York Supreme Court Justice who managed the NYCAL asbestos docket from 2009 until her removal in March 2015 following the Sheldon Silver / Weitz & Luxenberg matter.
Sources: Fordham Law News (October 2023); SGB website; Best Lawyers profile; JAMS profile; Ballotpedia
Blomberg is a named partner at SGB, past president of the Connecticut AAML Chapter (2018–19), Fordham Law CT Alumni Chapter leader since 2007, former Co-Chair of the Special Masters Program for the Stamford Judicial District (2008–2020), Guardian Ad Litem, and Attorney for Minor Children.
Both Heitlers serve on the Fordham Law Alumni Association Board — documented as the first mother-daughter pair to do so.
Sources: Fordham Law News (October 2023); FLAA Board listing; SGB attorney bio
Each cluster below represents a set of documented connections drawn from public records, professional bios, campaign finance filings, and sworn testimony. Every name and role is sourced.
The core family-institutional cluster connecting New York judicial prestige through Fordham governance to Connecticut family law practice. Both Heitlers serve on the Fordham Law Alumni Association Board. Justice Heitler now serves as a private arbitrator through JAMS in New York.
Sources: Fordham Law News (Oct. 2023); JAMS profile; SGB website; FLAA Board listing
The Connecticut Bar Association’s Family Law Section develops the practice standards and continuing-education programs that shape how family law is practiced statewide. The CBA Bench/Bar Committee is the formal channel through which lawyers and judges confer on procedure. A single firm with approximately eight lawyers has held officer positions on these bodies without interruption for over a decade.
Sources: CBA Family Law Section officer listings (2013–2027); SGB attorney bios; CBA Bench/Bar Committee records
The Judicial Selection Commission screens and recommends every Connecticut judge. One law firm has had its firmwide managing partner serve as JSC Chair, followed immediately by a firm alumnus in the same role. The current House Speaker — who holds statutory appointment power over JSC members — is a partner at the same firm. JoAnne Jones, a sitting JSC commissioner, was appointed by Speaker Ritter.
Sources: JSC public records; CT General Assembly website; Shipman & Goodwin website; CT Mirror reporting; Rowthorn Law LLC founding records
Colin co-founded SGB in 1996, was nominated by Gov. Malloy in 2013, served as Presiding Judge for the family docket in the Stamford Judicial District, retired on Friday, March 30, 2018, and rejoined SGB as a named partner effective Monday, April 2, 2018. He is now at Siegel, Colin & Kaufman. During his entire judicial tenure, his former partner Blomberg co-chaired the Special Masters Program in his courthouse.
Sources: SGB press release (Wayback archived 10/16/2019); CT Mirror (1/24/2013); CGA Judiciary Committee transcript (3/1/2013); SEEC filings (employer change)
Multiple sitting Supreme and Appellate Court justices share professional origins at Cummings & Lockwood, McCarter & English, Day Pitney, and the Cowdery firm lineage. These shared origins are documented in public judicial biographies.
Sources: CT Judicial Branch biographies; firm alumni records; public appointment records
The majority of current Supreme and Appellate Court judges were Malloy or Lamont appointees. Colin, Diana, and Kowalski — three judges documented across these clusters — were all nominated by the same governor. Justice McDonald served as that governor’s General Counsel before being elevated to the Supreme Court.
Sources: CT Judicial Branch appointment records; CT Mirror reporting; CGA confirmation records
Since 2012, New York and Connecticut have maintained bar reciprocity, enabling attorneys admitted in one state to practice in the other without re-examination. This creates the structural infrastructure for personnel, relationships, and institutional influence to flow across the border — including the connections documented in Cluster 1.
Sources: NY-CT reciprocal admission rules (2012); multi-state CLE records; Fordham Law CT Alumni Chapter records
The public record of Thomas D. Colin’s career path — from private practice to the bench and back — drawn from sworn testimony, press releases, archived web pages, and campaign finance filings.
Colin co-founds SGB as a spinout from Cummings & Lockwood.
Source: Sworn testimony, CGA Judiciary Committee hearing (3/1/2013)Colin serves as Special Master, Guardian Ad Litem, and Attorney for Minor Children in the Stamford Judicial District. Becomes president of AAML-CT.
Source: Sworn testimony, CGA Judiciary Committee hearing (3/1/2013)Gov. Malloy nominates Colin to the bench. The firm is then called “Schoonmaker, George, Colin & Blomberg.”
Source: CT Mirror, “New class of judges comes with connections”Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. No conflict-of-interest questions are asked. No recusal commitment is made regarding former firm cases.
Source: CGA transcript, full text at cga.ct.govServes as Superior Court judge. Becomes Presiding Judge for the family docket in the Stamford Judicial District. During this entire tenure, his former partner Blomberg co-chairs the Special Masters Program in his courthouse.
Source: SGB press release (Wayback); SGB attorney bioRetires from the bench.
Source: SGB press releaseRejoins SGB as a named partner.
Source: SGB press release, Wayback Machine (archived 10/16/2019)Leaves SGB again for Siegel, Colin & Kaufman, P.C.
Source: SEEC filings (employer change); Wayback Machine shows name dropped from SGB between November 2020 and August 2021Connecticut has no Practice Book rule, no published roster, and no published selection criteria for family settlement Special Masters.
The Guardian Ad Litem / Attorney for Minor Children system is heavily codified: CGS §46b-12, Practice Book §25-62, with a public eligibility roster maintained at lookup.jud.ct.gov/GAL. Only Practice Book §25-32B covers discovery Special Masters (adopted 2011).
The settlement Special Master system — through which lawyers are assigned by judges to help resolve cases — runs entirely on informal bench-bar administration. No statute. No rule. No public roster. No published criteria.
Sources: CT Practice Book; CGS §46b-12; CT Judicial Branch GAL lookup
The publicly maintained roster at lookup.jud.ct.gov/GAL (revised August 13, 2026, listing 189 individuals) does not include Jill Heitler Blomberg or Peter M. Bryniczka. SGB’s Aidan Welsh and Claire DeVidas do appear.
Source: CT Judicial Branch GAL/AMC eligibility roster, revised 8/13/2026
Connecticut Rule of Professional Conduct 1.12 provides that a lawyer who previously served as a judge, adjudicative officer, or “law clerk to such a person” shall not represent anyone in a matter in which the lawyer participated personally and substantially — and that disqualification imputes to the entire firm for any such matter, unless screening is implemented and written notice is provided to the parties.
Source: CT Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.12
We searched public campaign finance records at the CT State Elections Enforcement Commission (seec.ct.gov) and the Federal Election Commission (fec.gov). Here is what we found.
$500 to the House Democrats Caucus Committee (September 18, 2012). $500 to the Senate Democrats Victory PAC (October 19, 2012). These donations went to the two chambers that vote on judicial confirmations, in the weeks preceding Gov. Malloy’s January 2013 nomination. This against an otherwise documented all-Republican firm donation profile.
Source: SEEC receipts C311197, C318080
$100 to Dan Malloy For Governor (April 22, 2010) — a documented donation to the governor who appointed Diana to the bench in 2014. Also $100 to the House Democrats Caucus Committee (December 14, 2009) — the same PAC to which Colin donated before his nomination.
Source: SEEC receipts C113432, C81700
$1,000 to Bysiewicz for CT (the sitting Lieutenant Governor of the administration that appointed him to the JSC). $340 to AG Tong. $2,000 to Firewall Fund. $250 to Matt Ritter PAC (the House Speaker who holds statutory appointment power over JSC members).
Source: SEEC receipts (specific receipt IDs available on request)
Thomas Ritter Sr. — Brown Rudnick partner, former House Speaker, and father of current Speaker Matthew Ritter — made $11,000 in documented contributions to the CT Democratic State Central Committee’s federal account. Of his 26 state-level contributions totaling $6,180, 13 were flagged LOB=YES by SEEC (the registered-lobbyist marker).
Sources: FEC Schedule A; SEEC records
No SGB partner is documented as having donated directly to Gov. Malloy or Gov. Lamont. The documented donations flowed through confirming-legislature PACs and party infrastructure — a routing that is legal but raises the same disclosure question the Henhouse Report asks about the bar-leadership channel.
The judges assigned to the family docket in the Stamford-Norwalk Judicial District came from documented backgrounds in criminal defense, prosecution, legal aid, or municipal and general civil practice. Judges without family-law formation are structurally dependent on exactly the bar infrastructure one firm leads.
This is not an allegation of personal wrongdoing. It is a structural observation about how expertise flows from the bar to the bench.
Sources: CT Judicial Branch judicial biographies; public appointment records
The documented case assignment chain runs: Chief Justice Mullins → Chief Court Administrator Alexander → Chief Administrative Judge for Family Diana → Administrative Judge Blawie → Presiding Judge for Family Kowalski → family judges. Practice Book §1-19(a) provides that the Presiding Judge “apportions among the judges the judicial business.”
Kowalski’s 24-year firm-mate Paul Tusch is now president of AAML-CT (2024–present), where SGB’s Aidan Welsh is president-elect.
Sources: CT Practice Book §1-19(a); AAML-CT officer listings; public firm bios
This project publishes what we can source. It also publishes what we cannot.
These are questions, not accusations. If you have sourced information on any of these, contact us.