Attorney Chimes joined the firm in 1993. Since joining the firm, he has represented individuals in employment, personal injury, medical malpractice, criminal and civil rights matters. Lew regularly appears in both the state and federal courts at the trial and appellate level. In addition, as the trend towards alternative dispute resolution has accelerated, Lew has represented many individuals, groups and classes in complex mediations, and has consistently sought creative solutions to difficult disputes on behalf of his clients. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, and has been selected as a Connecticut Super Lawyer, and was included in related articles in Connecticut and New York Magazines.

Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Chimes & Richardson P.C. is nationally known for representing individuals in employment matters. From his first employment case for the firm, in which he successfully represented a teacher with severe cerebral palsy who had been wrongfully denied a position in her former school system, Lew has been an advocate for victims of discrimination and wrongful discharge in the workplace. He has been class and individual counsel for victims of race, age, disability, and sex discrimination against Fortune 500 companies, local companies, state agencies and municipal police departments. He was one of the first attorneys in the state to bring claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in a case in Connecticut that was the first to recognize a right to a jury trial under the FMLA. Lew has provided counsel and represented numerous individual on sexual harassment claims, including an alleged co-worker rape in a corporate office, a hostile environment claim by a state Judicial Marshal, and a same sex harassment claim by a secretary in a parochial school. He has represented whistleblowers and brought qui tam actions on behalf of individuals who have provided information about their companies’ illegal activities. He was co-counsel on trials that resulted in the some of the largest defamation and negligent infliction of emotional distress verdicts in the state in the field of employment law at the time. In Roberton v. Citizens Utilities, he obtained a $1.3 million dollar verdict for a former executive, one of the largest individual ERISA verdicts in the state. He has obtained million dollar settlements in several individual cases and class actions.

In his first several years of private practice, Lew focused exclusively on representing individuals who were injured due to negligence or professional malpractice. He has maintained that practice since joining Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Chimes & Richardson P.C. Representative personal injury cases include a traumatic brain injury claim involving a college student, a wrongful death claim involving a construction worker who fell though an open sky light, a high school student who suffered sexual abuse by the staff, and an inadequate security claim against a condominium complex where a young woman was murdered. Representative malpractice cases involve a nursing home patient who suffered multiple injuries that led to her death; a medical malpractice claim against a gynecologist who improperly performed a hysterectomy on a 53 year old woman resulting in a massive infection that led to her death; a single car accident involving the death of a security guard; wrongful death claim against a cardiothoracic surgeon involving bleeding complications from aortic valve replacement surgery; negligent performance of a myomectomy by an OB/Gyn that rendered a young woman infertile; negligence by an anesthesiologist in administering an epidural block that caused permanent injury.

Lew began his career as a prosecutor in the Trial Division of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. While at the DA’s office, he prosecuted a drug possession case involving rock star Billy Idol, and obtained a videotaped confession in the burglary of the apartment of fashion designer Bill Blass. Since going into private practice, he has defended individuals in criminal cases for over fifteen years. In United States v. Rivera, Lew successfully argued for the Second Circuit to recognize a new basis for sentencing departures based upon extraordinary childhood abuse or violence. At the trial level he has handled everything ranging from DUI, sexual assault, murder to complex drug conspiracies. He has also handled white collar criminal investigations and represented witnesses before federal grand juries. Lew has also assisted victims of crime in asserting their rights in criminal proceedings.

Lew has also contributed a significant amount of his practice to pro bono activities. He has provided representation to the Connecticut Special Olympics for over ten years, and currently serves on its Board of Directors. He has litigated several First Amendment civil rights cases involving state efforts to impose gag orders on individuals speaking out on matters of public concern. In Delgado v. United States, he filed a petition for habeas corpus on behalf of an incarcerated prisoner based upon a recent Supreme Court decision and a sentencing error that resulted in the prisoner’s release. He has provided counseling and representation on employment matters to low income individuals who could not otherwise afford an attorney.

Lew is a graduate of Tufts University, Summa Cum Laude, where he was also Phi Beta Kappa, and Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He is a member of the Connecticut and National Lawyers Association, the Connecticut and American Trial Lawyers Association, the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the Connecticut Bar Association and the New Haven County Bar Association.

Representative Matters

Bemus v. Community Medical Transport

2000 WL 373928, 28 Conn. L. Rptr. 1 (Conn. Super. 2000)(Employment - Breach of contract - $275,000 verdict)

Block v. Connecticut Distributors

1996 WL 278265, 16 Conn. L. Rptr. 634 (Conn. Super. 1996)(Employment - Breach of contract)

Breiner v. Connecticut State Dental Commission

3:03CV01935(MRK) (2004)(Civil Rights - State Department of Public Health prevented from stopping a dentist from speaking out about the dangers of mercury fillings)

Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority v. Mitchell, et al

CV-010810194-S(2002)(Civil Rights - Dismissal of retaliatory lawsuit against environmentalist who spoke out about Hartford landfill)

Deleo v. City of Stamford

919 F.Supp. 70 (D. Conn. 1995)(Employment - Disability Discrimination)

Favale v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport

233 F.R.D. 243 (D. Conn. 2003)(Employment - Sexual Harassment/Defamation)

Galland v. Bishop

2001 WL 56474, 28 Conn. L. Rptr. 690 (2001)(Personal Injury - Extension of family car doctrine)

Gray v. Foundation Health Systems, Inc.,

2004 WL 945137 (Conn. Super. 2004)(Commercial - Class Action)

Kuselias v. SNET

18 Conn. L. Rptr. (Conn. Super. 1996)(Employment - Defamation - $580,000 verdict)

People v. Harper

137 Misc. 2d 357, 520 N.Y.S. 2d 892 (Crim. Ct. 1987)(Criminal)

People v. Whetson

135 Misc. 2d 1, 513 N.Y.S. 2d 910 (Crim. Ct. 1987) (Criminal)

Raymundo v. Palmer Landing

2005 WL 3624473 (Conn. Super. 2005)(Personal Injury - Wrongful Death - Inadequate Security)

Roberton v. Citizens Utilities

122 F.Supp. 279 (D. Conn. 2000)(Employment - ERISA - $1,300,000 Verdict)

State v. Radzvilowicz

47 Conn. App. 1, 703 A.2d 767 (1997)(Criminal)

State v. Sanders

37 Conn. App. 219, 655 A.2d 805 (1995)(Criminal)

Tooley v. Metro-North

58 Conn. App. 485, 755 A.2d 270 (2000)(Employment - Wage Statute)

United States v. Rivera

192 F.3d 81 (2d Cir. 1999)(Criminal)

United States v. Graham

119 F.Supp.2d 116 (D. Conn. 2000)(Criminal)

Volta v. Town of Seymour

2004 WL 1965784 (Conn. Super. 2004)(Employment - Sexual Harassment)

Wasilewski v. Warner-Lambert

1995 WL 373928, 14 Conn. L. Rptr. 423 (Conn. Super. 1995)(Employment - Breach of contract)

Publications and Lectures

“Developments in Employment Law,” New Haven County Bar Association, 2003 - 2005

“Evidentiary Issues in Employment Law,” National Employment Lawyers Association, 2002

“Investigation of Sexual Harassment Complaints,” National Employment Lawyers Association, 2001

“Annual Employment Law Update,” Connecticut Bar Association, 1995 - 1996