Quinnipiac University School of Law graduate Steen Surland Kadison has joined Cramer & Anderson as an Associate focusing initially on Land Use & Environmental Law, as well as Litigation.
He took the Connecticut Bar Exam in July and received notification in late September that he had passed. The swearing in ceremony for new attorneys is typically held in early November.
“We’re excited to have a new Associate passionate about justice, social justice and land-use and environmental law join the Cramer & Anderson team,” said Partner Dan Casagrande. “Although he recently graduated from law school, Steen Kadison comes with an impressive amount of experience.”
He completed two separate internships in the Connecticut Attorney General’s office. In the summer of 2017, his legal research and document review work focused on consumer protection issues, including multi-state litigation concerning Volkswagen emissions test cheating and defective Takata airbags. In early 2019, he provided legislative and legal research on the creation of environmental statutes.
Inspired by a lifelong sense of justice to study law and pursue a professional path that would allow him to “speak truth to power,” Kadison found his belief in social justice affirmed and enhanced by his undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has a particular interest in social justice as it relates to criminal justice reform and mass incarceration, including prisoners’ rights and prison reform.
This background in social justice informs Kadison’s views on land-use and environmental law, and his experience in the Attorney General’s office, combined with a love of the outdoors, inspires his interest in environmental policy as it relates to the law, as well as the impact it has on communities, and the disproportionate effects policy decisions can have on particular communities. Kadison values sustainable and prudent land-use planning carried out with careful consideration of its effects on both the environment and growing communities.
Committed to volunteerism and community service, Kadison was a legal intern at the Quinnipiac School of Law’s legal clinic, where he handled cases on issues ranging from housing to child support and asylum. He drafted documents in support of asylum applications and accompanied asylum clients to hearings, work he found to be very rewarding.
In the spring of 2008, in conjunction with a group from his church, he participated in a Hurricane Katrina relief trip to New Orleans, assisting with efforts to demolish condemned homes in the Ninth Ward, as well as working to repair and paint damaged homes and assisting with construction and landscaping for new homes.
The hands-on experience would be influential later, after Kadison earned an invitation to join the prestigious Quinnipiac Law Review based on his proficiency in a “write-on” competition. Everyone on the Law Review is required to write an article on a legal issue of interest in the form of a case note. Kadison’s case note was entitled, “Protecting Informal Volunteers: Reconciling Informal-Volunteer Participation During Rescue and Relief Efforts in the Wake of Natural Disasters.” He argued that non-professional rescuers in natural disaster situations should be given more protection from liability.
In his second year, Kadison was elected to the board of the Law Review and given the role of Publication Editor, which included the responsibility of checking for proper legal citation of articles selected for publication, which fueled his passion for legal research.
Steen Kadison grew up in Fairfield and currently lives in New Haven. He played rugby in high school and college, and enjoys mountain biking, hiking and camping, and snowboarding. He and fellow outdoors enthusiasts once climbed Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington, the highest peak in New Hampshire, in order to snowboard back down.
He will be working primarily in the firm’s New Milford office and may be reached by phone at (860) 355-2631, or by email at skadison@crameranderson.com.
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Serving clients from six offices in western Connecticut, Cramer & Anderson has a hometown sensibility, a strong regional presence, and a worldly outlook in Practice Areas extending from Personal Injury and Divorce & Family Law to Immigration, Municipal Law, Land Use Law, Real Estate, Workers’ Comp and much more.
The flagship office is located in a historic structure on the Green in New Milford. Additional offices are located in Danbury, Litchfield, Kent, and Washington Depot, and the firm’s newest office is in Ridgefield, serving Fairfield County. For more information, see the website at www.crameranderson.com or call the New Milford office at (860) 355-2631.
