David R. Roth

Partner

Home 9 Person 9 David R. Roth
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Home 9 Person 9 David R. Roth

David R. Roth

Partner

Dave is a Partner in the firmโ€™s Litigation Department where he focuses on appellate and complex civil litigation.

As a member of the firmโ€™s Appellate Group, Dave has represented clients in the U.S. Supreme Court, ten federal courts of appeal, four state supreme courts, and numerous state intermediate appellate courts. Among other recent engagements, Dave was part of the team that obtained a unanimous Supreme Court reversal on behalf of a major German public cultural institution; he successfully briefed and argued appeals in the Third Circuit and the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of insurers regarding coverage for COVID-19-related losses; and he prevailed in the Connecticut Supreme Court on behalf of one of the stateโ€™s largest municipalities regarding municipalitiesโ€™ authority to address landlordsโ€™ failure to provide code-compliant housing to their tenants. Along with Tadhg Dooley, Dave is also one of the principal authors of Wiggin and Danaโ€™s Supreme Court Update, keeping clients up to date with timely summaries of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

At the trial level, Dave has represented clients in a broad range of factually and legally complex cases. Recent matters include a high-profile case between Fortune 500 companies over a digital transformation, a decades-long trademark dispute between competing industrial companies, and transnational litigation over investments in foreign manufacturing companies. He also regularly practices in the area of Connecticut election law and represents municipalities on issues of land-use, urban development, and governmental immunity.

Dave maintains a robustย pro bonoย practice. He is a Visiting Clinical Lecturer at Yale Law School where he co-directs the Yale Appellate Litigation Project. Along with Tadhg Dooley, Dave supervises Yale Law students representingย pro bonoย clients in cases assigned by the Second and Third Circuits. Recent clinic victories include securing a unanimous reversal from the Third Circuit of a district courtโ€™s dismissal of a Section 1983 claim over a state prisonโ€™s wrongful rejection of inmate mail and a Second Circuit reversal of a district courtโ€™s pre-trial dismissal of an inmateโ€™s Section 1983 retaliation claim.

Before joining Wiggin and Dana, Dave clerked for Judge Christopher F. Droney of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was a Notes Editor for theย Yale Law Journal. He earned an M.A. in Classics from the University of Virginia and a B.S. in Classics from the University of Oregon.

Education

  • Yale Law School (J.D., 2012)
  • University of Virginia (M.A., 2008)
  • University of Oregon (B.A., 2006)
    • magna cum laude

Bar Admissions

Court Admissions

Awards and Recognitions

Best Lawyers (2025-2026, including Appellate Practiceย โ€œ2026 Lawyer of the Yearโ€œ)

Benchmark Litigation “Future Star” (2024-2025)

Benchmark Litigation “40 & Under” (2022-2023)

The Legal 500 (2022-2023)

Connecticut Law Tribune “New Leader in the Law” (2019)

Super Lawyers (2018-2019)

Visit Our Blog

Click to visit,ย Supreme Court Update

Supreme Court Update Blog

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Events

When: October 9, 2025

at 5:30pm

- 7:30pm

Location: The Goodwin Hotel

People: Tadhg Dooley , David R. Roth

When: May 9, 2024

at 5:30pm

- 7:30pm

Location: Hotel Marcel

People: Tadhg Dooley , David R. Roth

When: February 29, 2024

at 12:00pm

- 1:00pm

Location: Virtual

People: Tadhg Dooley , David R. Roth

When: April 26, 2023

at 5:30pm

- 8:30pm

Location: New Haven Lawn Club

People: Tadhg Dooley , David R. Roth

When: May 30, 2019

at 5:30pm

- 8:00pm

Location: New Haven Lawn Club

People: Tadhg Dooley , David R. Roth

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