New mayor taps Emmett for legal post

Stamford Mayor-elect David Martin made his first cabinet-level appointment Nov. 21, naming Kathryn Emmett director of legal affairs.

Afterward, Martin briefly addressed Stamford”™s economy. He said citizens could expect what he termed “a revamping,” calling the early effort “a work in progress.”

“We”™ve had a lot of success here and we look to continue that success,” he said. “I have a very hopeful belief about the future.”

Emmett accepted the legal post in a sun-splashed Stamford Government Center press conference. She, like the new mayor, assumes official duties Dec. 1. The transition has already begun with the transfer of information and cases to her supervision.

“I can”™t tell you what a great honor and privilege this is,” she said, standing beside Martin at the lectern. “I could not be more honored or more humble.” She called the city”™s legal challenges “exciting and a challenge.”

Emmett”™s resume features Harvard undergraduate and Yale Law School degrees. In 1989, she was a founder of the law firm Emmett & Glander. She was a visiting scholar at Yale Law School and served as a judge of the Connecticut Superior Court, 1982-88. She is a litigator and served as president of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association.

Emmett is admitted to the Connecticut and California bars, but is for now in “inactive status” in California. Her credentials also avail her of practicing before the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut; the U.S. Court of Appeals”™ Second, Fourth, Fifth and 11th Circuits; as well as before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Her current local duties include treasurer of the Board of the Stamford Downtown Special Services District and board member of the Ferguson Library.

Mayor Michael Pavia, who won the seat in 2009, did not seek re-election.