AMBROSE & FALLS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Connecticut Bar Association
Attorney James A. Mongillo is of counsel with the law firm of Letizia, Ambrose & Falls in New Haven, Connecticut. Attorney Mongillo graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1990 with a degree in Political Science. He obtained his Juris Doctorate from Quinnipiac University School of Law in 1995. He is admitted to practice in the State of Connecticut as well as the United States District Court and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorney Mongillo has practiced in the areas of personal injury and workers' compensation defense for over seventeen years. Attorney Mongillo has litigated numerous high exposure personal injury matters and has achieved excellent results for his clients through jury verdicts, administrative hearings, alternate dispute resolutions and settlements. Attorney Mongillo's previous employment experience includes serving as in house counsel for Nationwide Insurance as well as over ten years in private practice.
Attorney Mongillo is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association and the Connecticut Defense Lawyers Association. He resides in Hamden Connecticut with his wife and two children.
Job Titles:
- Office Manager & Billing Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Managing Partner / Letizia
Attorney John Letizia is the Managing and Founding Partner in the New Haven law firm of Letizia, Ambrose & Falls in 1994 and has been practicing law in Connecticut since 1986. Attorney Letizia received his undergraduate degree from St. John's University and his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
Attorney Letizia's work includes employment law, healthcare and corporate counseling, mergers and affiliations, litigation defense, labor negotiations, arbitration, representation before the EEOC and CHRO, personnel counseling, wage and hour audits, representation before the Federal and Connecticut Department of Labor (including Wage & Hour, Field Unit and FMLA enforcement divisions), the National Labor Relations Board, OSHA, DSS, DDS, DMHAS and Connecticut's Supreme Court. Attorney Letizia serves on CBIA's Labor and Employment and Workers' Compensation Councils.
Attorney Letizia has successfully defended employment discrimination cases before the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Over the past 27 years, Attorney Letizia has prevailed without settlement in the majority of cases, and in most other cases, has been able to negotiate a very favorable resolution, with only a nominal payment (i.e., $7,500 or less) to the employee, without the terminated employee returning to work, or with the employee resigning. These settlement payments were, in almost all of the cases, less than Attorney Letizia would have billed if the cases would have proceeded to a CHRO or EEOC full probable case hearing, and dramatically less than it would have cost to defend the case in civil litigation (the employee has a right to have the case withdrawn from CHRO and then file a civil complaint in Connecticut's State courts).
Attorney Letizia is proud to serve on the Connecticut Bar Association's Diversity & Inclusion Committee, where he is on the Subcommittee for Education Programs. Attorney Letizia has also received the Domestic Violence Services of Greater New Haven Legal Services Award for his pro bono work. He also received the Harbor Health Services Community Partner Award in honor of his work in the behavioral health community. Attorney Letizia is a volunteer Youth Court Judge, which is a program that is part of the Connecticut Juvenile Court system.
Finally, Attorney Letizia has been listed as a Super Lawyer in the areas of employment, workers' compensation and healthcare law and was awarded the BV Distinguished rating for very high Legal Ability & Ethical Standards by his fellow attorneys.
Attorney Neil J. Ambrose is a partner with the law firm of Letizia, Ambrose & Falls. He received an undergraduate degree cum laude from Tufts University in 1985, and a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1989.
Mr. Ambrose's practice focuses on defending workers' compensation claims. He represents self-insured employers in Connecticut at informal, preformal, and formal hearings in all districts of the Workers' Compensation Commission. He has argued workers' compensation appeals before the Compensation Review Board, the Connecticut Court of Appeals and the Connecticut Supreme Court. He is a member of the Workers' Compensation Chairman's Legal Advisory Panel, the New Haven County Bar Association, the Connecticut Bar Association Workers' Compensation and Employment Law Sections, and the American Bar Association. Mr. Ambrose was a member of the first class of attorneys to be board certified by the Connecticut Bar Association as a specialist in workers' compensation.
Mr. Ambrose has been an adjunct lecturer at Quinnipiac University Graduate School, speaking on topics such as workers' compensation, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and personal injury litigation. He also has written several articles and has spoken at numerous seminars on a variety of workers' compensation, Medicare, and employment law topics.
Mr. Ambrose is active in Glastonbury Amateur Baseball, Glastonbury Basketball Association, and is on the pastoral council at St. Elizabeth Seton Roman Catholic Church.
Attorney Polly L. Orenstein is of Counsel with the law firm of Letizia, Ambrose & Falls in New Haven. She graduated cum laude from Western New England College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Government. She also minored in psychology. She was Graduate of the Year in 1982. In 1985, she received her Juris Doctorate from Western New England College School of Law. She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Ms. Orenstein's work experience includes 12 years as in-house counsel, focusing on workers' compensation cases, for a major insurance company, as well as the general practice of law in private practice in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Ms. Orenstein's practice focuses entirely on workers' compensation defense and litigation and she represents employers throughout Connecticut in disputes before the Workers' Compensation Commission, Compensation Review Board and Appellate Court. Ms. Orenstein is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association Workers' Compensation Section. She is married with three teenagers and is President of the high school PTSA.