Trial Magazine

“Cynics divide the world into wolves and sheep, predators and prey. They miss the most important category—those who protect and defend the innocent and interesting. That was Mike Koskoff,” said longtime friend and fellow trial lawyer Randi McGinn.

After a heroic battle with pancreatic cancer, Connecticut trial lawyer and AAJ member Michael Koskoff passed away on April 24, 2019, in New York City. Michael devoted his career to protecting and defending his clients from abuse of power, corporate greed, and medical negligence.

After graduating from the University of Connecticut School of Law, Michael immediately joined his father, Ted Koskoff (one of AAJ’s founders and a past president) at their law firm in Bridgeport, Conn. In 1970, the Koskoffs defended two members of the Black Panthers in a historic trial in New Haven, Conn.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Michael continued his commitment to civil rights and discrimination issues. Following a lengthy court battle alleging the Bridgeport Police Department had engaged in systemic discrimination, he succeeded in getting a federal court order requiring the department to hire more minorities. His work on that case had national implications, leading to similar suits elsewhere and to police and fire departments changing their hiring and recruitment practices.

But Michael was best known for his pursuit of justice for victims of medical negligence. In one notable case, he represented a 29-year-old man who was left permanently blind and brain damaged after heart surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital. The jury awarded $27 million, the largest verdict at the time in Connecticut.

Michael also represented a woman who, just seven weeks into a medical internship at Yale University, contracted HIV from a needle stick—the jury awarded $12.2 million, sending a powerful message to medical residency programs around the country about the need for adequate supervision and training.

Michael’s other passion was the theater, having spent time before his legal career studying at the American ­Shakespeare Academy in Stratford, Conn. He combined his interest in theater with his legal knowledge and his gift of storytelling to pioneer the use of documentary-style courtroom videos. He also partnered with his son Jacob to write the screenplay for the highly acclaimed 2017 film “Marshall,” the story of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s 1941 defense of an ­African-American man accused of rape.

“Mike’s highly polished sense of courtroom theater and drama was never better displayed than in his work on the film ‘Marshall,’” said trial lawyer and friend, Michael A. Kelly. “It was a brilliant example of how Mike was always focused on what was best not just for his individual client, but for society as a whole. Armed with a unique sense of humor and a phenomenal legal mind, he was a difference maker.”

An AAJ member since 1973, Michael frequently presented at AAJ education programs. He served on the association’s Legal Affairs Committee, International Relations Committee, and Committee on Courts, and coauthored the AAJ Press book The Medical Malpractice Trial. Michael received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association in 2008, and he will receive the AAJ Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously this month at AAJ’s 2019 Annual Convention.

“Mike was one of AAJ’s strongest champions and will long be remembered for his unwavering commitment to his clients and for taking on the most difficult cases,” said AAJ CEO Linda Lipsen.

Michael is survived by his wife, Rosalind; his four adult children, Sarah, Jacob, Juliet, and Joshua; and his law firm family.