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Valerie B. Calistro serves as Managing Partner of Ventura Law and currently concentrates in Personal Injury Law, with a focus on the representation of victims of sexual assault, including minors, and traumatic brain injuries.. Attorney Calistro has represented thousands of clients in civil cases throughout Connecticut and New York, in the State and Federal Courts of these States, as well as in arbitrations throughout the United States in International Trade matters.. As a Personal Injury attorney, she has successfully represented and settled thousands of civil cases, several with values in excess of one million dollars. She currently splits her time between the Firm's Danbury and New York City offices.. Attorney Calistro was one of the founding partners of the firm's former branch office in the World Trade Center, New York City, where she litigated international trade cases in the Federal Courts of New York for several years. She also represented, pro bono, a victim of the World Trade Center, who survived the September 11, 2001 attacks. She was nationally recognized for her volunteer efforts in this regard.. Attorney Calistro is a member of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association and the Danbury Bar Association. She is a also member of the Leaders Forum of the American Association of Justice, and the National Crime Victims Bar Association.. She also served as a panelist on the American Bar Association's Alternative Dispute Resolution National Forum in Washington D.C. on the topic "Mediating the High Profile Controversy", discussing high profile sexual assault and abuse cases, Mass Torts, the BP Oil Spill, and the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.. Over the past several years, Attorney Calistro has spearheaded committees to organize charity events on behalf of the Firm, including events benefitting the Women's Center of Greater Danbury, the Hispanic Center of Danbury, Ct, the Dorothy Day Foundation, the Community Action Center of Danbury, the Community Outreach Committee, and Literacy Volunteers of America.. She is also a member of the Fundraising Committee of the Wendy Hilliard Foundation, benefitting unprivileged youth in the Bronx, New York, and is a volunteer with New York Cares and Literacy Volunteers in New York City.. In her spare time, Attorney Calistro is a freelance writer for an online woman's magazine, covering legal and social topics, and is an avid gymnast & snowboarder.

Patricia M. Cruz Fragoso has been practicing with Ventura, Ribeiro & Smith since 2012, where she currently concentrates in Personal Injury Civil Litigation, exclusively representing injured plaintiffs. Attorney Fragoso was admitted to the State of Connecticut Superior Court in 2009. She received her undergraduate teaching degree from the Catholic University of Portugal in 2004 and she graduated cum laude from Thomas M. Cooley Law School, where she completed her law degree in two years.. Attorney Fragoso is a member of the American Association for Justice and serves on its Board of Governors. She serves on the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association  as a Board of Governor and on their Executive Committee. Attorney Fragoso is also a member of the Connecticut Bar Association, the National Trial Lawyers Association, the National Latino Trial Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association, the Danbury Bar Association, and the Portuguese Bar Association of Connecticut.. Attorney Fragoso recently received the honor of being named one of the “Top 40 Under 40” by the National Trial Lawyers Association. To read more: .. Attorney Fragoso has been consecutively nominated a "Rising Star" by Super Lawyers since 2012.  To read more:  http://www.superlawyers.com/about/rising_stars.html.. Attorney Fragoso received the honor of being named the 2013 recipient of the Danbury Bar Association Law Day "American Dream" award, a distinction which is given to a foreign-born, now United States citizen, who has contributed to the civic discourse and respect for the rules of law in the community and, in doing so, reached the American Dream.. Attorney Fragoso is also involved with the Portuguese Cultural Center in Danbury, Connecticut, where she serves on the Board of Directors.. Miscellaneous Verdicts. 1. Insurance company offer of $40,000 was rejected before trial. Verdict $203,. Insurance company paid  $225,.. 2. Insurance company offer of $30,000 was rejected before trial. Verdict $249,.

Attorney Victor started her legal career as Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of New York, where she worked as an attorney representing the City of New York in real estate tax litigation matters. She then went on to work for Costello, Cooney & Fearon, PLLC (Syracuse, NY) handling personal injury, products liability, insurance defense, and real estate tax cases. After that, she worked for Ventura, Ribeiro & Smith (Danbury, CT) concentrating her practice on plaintiff's personal injury cases.  In June of 2015, attorney Victor joined Allstate's legal team first as trial counsel and then as senior trial counsel.  In June of 2017, attorney Victor returned to Ventura Law (Danbury, CT).. Attorney Victor received her Bachelor's Degree in Latin American Studies and Spanish Literature from Brandeis University, graduating with departmental distinction. She received her law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she served as coordinator of the Cardozo Advocates for Battered Women and was a legal writing teaching assistant. After graduating from law school, attorney Victor lived in Jerusalem, Israel, conducting grant-funded research on water conservation law and in Cape Town, South Africa, working for the Refugee Clinic at the University of Cape Town as an advocate for asylum seekers from African nations.