Emily Graner Sexton

PARTNER

Extension 2

egsexton@sextoncolaw.com

Emily Graner Sexton is a partner who focuses her practice in the areas of criminal and civil appeals. She also represents students with disabilities and their families in school law and special education matters, helping them secure the services they need to excel in the classroom and throughout life. Prior to joining the firm, Attorney Graner Sexton served as an appellate prosecutor for the State of Connecticut, where she argued more than 35 appeals before Connecticut’s Appellate Court and Supreme Court. During that time, she worked with (and argued against) some of the finest appellate attorneys in Connecticut – invaluable experiences that she brings to bear in her representation of each of her clients. Prior to her work for the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, Attorney Graner Sexton was an associate with a West Hartford law firm, where she primarily represented municipalities, including police officers, school boards, teachers, and other public sector employees, in federal court. She began her career as a legal research clerk to the judges of the Connecticut Superior Court.

In addition to her work as an advocate, Attorney Graner Sexton has been active in the Connecticut Bar Association since she was in law school. She was the Chair of the Young Lawyer’s Section from 2014-2015, served as the Assistant Secretary-Treasurer of the CBA at large from 2015- 2017, and currently sits on the Executive Committee of the Appellate Advocacy Section. In 2019, Connecticut Chief Justice Richard A. Robinson appointed Attorney Graner Sexton to the Ebriefs Transition and Development Committee, where she is working with other leaders to move Connecticut away from paper appellate briefs. She has also served as a faculty member at the Appellate Advocacy Institute and was previously a barrister in the Oliver Ellsworth Inn of Court.

Attorney Graner Sexton graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Connecticut in 2003, and from Quinnipiac University School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree in 2007.  While in law school, she won the Arnold J. Bai Litigation Award and was awarded Best Oral Advocate at the 2007 National Appellate Advocacy Competition. Attorney Graner Sexton is admitted to practice in Connecticut’s state and federal courts, as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She has been recognized as a "Rising Star" in appellate practice by Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers rating service each year since 2017.

Among the cases that Attorney Graner Sexton has briefed and argued are: 

State v. Armadore, 186 Conn. App. 140 (2018), cert. granted, 330 Conn. 965 (2019)

State v. Polanco, 165 Conn. App. 563 (2016)

State v. Kehayias, 162 Conn. App. 310 (2016)

McGee v. Comm'r of Correction, 157 Conn. App. 863 (2015)

State v. Miranda, 315 Conn. 540 (2015)

State v. Henderson, 312 Conn. 585 (2014)

State v. Dunstan, 145 Conn. App. 384 (2013)

Gray v. Comm'r of Correction, 138 Conn. App. 171 (2012)

State v. Guerra, 132 Conn. App. 62 (2011)

State v. Miller, 128 Conn. App. 528 (2011)