Above the Law report
Connecticut lawyer Robert Serafinowicz was sentenced to a 364-day suspended sentence and two years of probation after pleading no contest to third degree assault charges. The charges stem from a September 7, 2022 incident where Serafinowicz slapped another attorney — Edward Gavin — outside of the Derby, Connecticut, courthouse. The altercation was caught on video.
Serafinowicz maintains he was provoked, and that there’s a 10-year history of animosity between the lawyers. So, what was the beef behind the slap? The ABA Journal has the deets:
Serafinowicz told the ABA Journal in 2022 that his dispute with Gavin went back 10 years, and it concerned Gavin’s defense of a judge whom Serafinowicz had criticized. Serafinowicz was suspended for 120 days beginning in 2015 for his disparaging remarks about the judge.
Serafinowicz told the Journal that Gavin had been making snide remarks about the situation for years. Serafinowicz said he asked Gavin to apologize before he slapped him. In an audio clip, Serafinowicz can be heard saying, “No, I’m not calming down; this is all coming out, and everybody knows that. And I got a f- – -ing list. Do you want to talk s- – – in front of me now? Do you want to f- – -ing apologize?”
