Michael P. Shea

Michael P. Shea was sworn in as a United States District Judge on December 31, 2012. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 7, 1967. Judge Shea graduated from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989. He graduated from Yale Law School, where he served as a Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal, in 1993.

After graduating from law school, Judge Shea clerked for Judge James L. Buckley of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Thereafter, he joined Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as an associate, resident first in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and then in its Brussels, Belgium office. His practice at Cleary Gottlieb focused on U.S. and European antitrust matters.

In 1998, Judge Shea returned to Hartford, Connecticut, and joined Day, Berry & Howard LLP, now known as Day Pitney LLP, as an associate. He became a partner of the firm in 2003. At Day Pitney, Judge Shea focused on commercial litigation, mass torts, First Amendment matters, and white collar criminal defense. He also chaired the firm’s appellate practice group. Throughout his career in private practice, Judge Shea maintained an active pro bono practice, receiving awards from both the Hartford County and Connecticut Bar Associations for his work on behalf of indigent persons in criminal and civil cases.

Judge Shea is a Bencher of the Oliver Ellsworth Inn of Court. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters, as the Treasurer of the Connecticut Supreme Court Historical Society, and as Chair of the Antitrust Section of the Connecticut Bar Association.