Coffey Modica LLP, a national defense litigation firm, recently moved to 65 Jesup Road in Westport.
December 11, 2024
Coffey Modica LLP, a national defense litigation firm representing prominent business and insurance companies in liability claims, excess property/casualty, medical malpractice, nursing, and other professional industries, has opened a new office in Westport that will serve as the firm’s Connecticut headquarters.
Located at 65 Jessup Road, the 4,000-square-foot building sits in the heart of Westport’s Jessup Road Historic District, within walking distance of the vibrant downtown, including The Westport Library, Westport Police Department, and the historic Jesup Green. Near Imperial Avenue, it has come to be known as the “Godillot Carriage House.”
Building features include a brick-paved front patio and two porches, including one that faces Dead Men’s Brook, which runs through the side of the property.
The new offices are designed to accommodate 16 attorneys and staff.
“This historic building is truly located in the heart of downtown Westport. As many of our partners and clients have deep, entrenched roots in Fairfield County, establishing Coffey Modica’s Connecticut headquarters in a venue so central to the city of Westport was a priority for us,” said Founding Partner Michael Coffey.
Built in 1882, 65 Jessup Road was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1977. The structure is considered the best example of Stick style architecture in Westport.
Revolutionary Links to Westport’s Founding
The land where 65 Jessup Road now sits belonged to the family of local Revolutionary War surgeon Dr. Ebenezer Jesup and his son Major Ebenezer Jesup, a prominent local grain trader. Members of the influential family date back more than 300 years in the community and were instrumental in changing the town’s name from Saugatuck to Westport.
Among prominent descendants was Morris Ketchum Jesup, an American banker and philanthropist who was president of the American Museum of Natural History, the YMCA New York, and was knighted by Russian Tsar Nicholas II. He was a major underwriter of early expeditions to explore the Artic, Alaska, Siberia, and Greenland, and had a hand in creating New York State’s Adirondack Park, while helping the Tuskegee Institute and George Washington Carver bring mobile classrooms to poor farming communities. In 1884 he donated his mansion as the parsonage for the Saugatuck Congregational Church and endowed what is today the Westport Public Library.
65 Jessup Road was later owned by Julia Godillot, the daughter of a Westport grocery merchant and the wife of a French importer, before being sold and converted in the 1920s. Other subsequent tenants include the Town of Westport Board of Education.
Law Firm Partners with Deep Local Roots
Coffey Modica Founding Partner Michael Coffey formerly served as President of the Norwalk City Council from 2005 to 2007, and Norwalk Fire Commissioner from 2007 to 2013, as well as Zoning Commissioner for the City of Norwalk from 2014 to 2016. He served for six years (2007 to 2012) as Senator Lieberman’s appointee to the U.S. Military Academy Selection Committee for Annapolis, West Point, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Coffey was among only four Connecticut elected officials who endorsed the sitting senator after he changed parties and ran in 2006 for reelection and won as an Independent.
After leading the East Coast operations of a California-based litigation firm, in 2021 he formed Coffey Modica, a firm that in less than 30 months has already expanded to employ more than 70 attorneys and staff across six offices on the East Coast. It is one of the fastest-growing legal practices in the nation, with success attributed not only to its commitment to quality and values, but to leveraging modern efficiencies allowing their lawyers to spend more time in practice and litigating, and less time mired in bureaucratic red tape and paperwork.
The firm’s client roster includes 12 of the 20 largest global insurance companies, entrusting its attorneys with cases far in excess of $10,000,000. Handling complex litigations and parachuting into trials across the country has helped the firm manage countless intricate legal challenges.
Mr. Coffey holds the esteemed designation of an ABOTA (American Board of Trial Advocates) trial attorney, a selective credential placing him among the most outstanding trial attorneys in the U.S.
Coffey Modica LLP represents defendants in high-profile, high-exposure matters across many disciplines and industries around the country. Known for being aggressive trial attorneys and litigators, Coffey Modica resolves matters on behalf of its clients with the most cost-effective resolutions aligned with their short- and long-term business goals and culture.