Joseph A. Hourihan

Joseph A. Hourihan is a jury trial and appellate court attorney with four decades of legal experience. Mr. Hourihan’s practice areas include wills, trusts, probate, personal injury, real estate, and commercial and business law.

While Mr. Hourihan was with Heffernan & Heffernan in Hartford, Connecticut from 1970 to 2004, he supervised and conducted litigation in a vast array of different types of cases, including plaintiff’s personal injury, insurance defense, construction litigation, and contested probate matters. He has also represented The Wetherell Corporation, a union mechanical and electrical company from 1978 through its closure in 2014. During this period, two of the company’s presidents died, and Mr. Hourihan was instrumental in managing a successful transition of the business after these events. Mr. Hourihan became a principal in the law firm in 2018.

Mr. Hourihan has extensive trial experience, including successfully trying a wrongful death and quadriplegic case through verdict. Additionally, he was involved in the trial and appeal of a landmark case in Connecticut law, concerning the liability of landowner for a sexual assault occurring on the premises. This case was decided by the Connecticut Supreme Court in Doe v. Manheimer, 212 Conn. 748, (1989). Related to this case, in 1990, Mr. Hourihan was awarded the David H. Neiditz Professional Writing Award for the best-written appellate brief in a Connecticut case in 1989.

He was also lead counsel through trial and appeal in the case of Luster v. Luster, which confirmed the right of a conserved person to maintain a divorce counsel.

Community and Other Pursuits

• Wethersfield Chamber of Commerce

• Bulkeley High School Hall of Fame, 2016 Inductee