Cody N. Guarnieri

Attorney Cody N. Guarnieri is a senior partner and trial lawyer at Brown, Paindiris & Scott. His practice focuses primarily on criminal defense, personal injury, general and business litigation, and defending professional and occupational licensing for individuals and businesses.

Cody defends individuals accused of crimes throughout Connecticut. He has handled matters in nearly every criminal courthouse in the state of Connecticut and ranging in seriousness from misdemeanor DUIs, family violence matters, to serious felonies, including rape, bank robbery and murder. He is also regularly represents defendants who have been indicted and are facing prosecution in federal court in Connecticut. He has handled criminal appeals before the Connecticut Appellate Court and Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

In his license defense practice Cody advises clients in dealing with administrative agencies for professional and occupational licensing issues. He regularly works with the Department of Public Health, Connecticut Medical Examining Board, Connecticut Board of Examiners for Nursing, Department of Developmental Services, Department of Consumer Protection, Department of Children and Families, State Elections Enforcement Commission and others. Cody is also regularly appointed as an administrative hearing officer for the Connecticut Department of Agriculture.

In his civil litigation practice, Cody handles complex personal injury and general litigation matters for individuals and small businesses. Cody aggressively pursues claims and lawsuits for individuals who were injured because of someone else, whether it was another driver, a doctor, a property owner, or the manufacturer or seller of a dangerously defective product. Cody has brought class action lawsuits on behalf of consumers, employees and others, including one of the first nationwide class action lawsuits against Volkswagen based on the defective clean diesel “TDI” line of automobiles and class actions on behalf of employees discriminated against for exercising their rights under the Connecticut Palliative Use of Marijuana Act.

Cody also litigates business disputes for individuals and small businesses, including those related to breach of contract claims, shareholder, partnership and LLC agreement disputes, allegations of fraud or misconduct, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and various other business-related claims.

In 2021 Cody was awarded the Judge Maxwell Heiman Memorial Award by the Hartford County Bar Association, awarded to an attorney who exemplifies the high standards of service to the profession, ethics, scholarship and devotion to clients. He was named a “New Leader in the Law” by the Connecticut Law Tribune in 2016. Cody is also a Presidential Fellow Emeritus of the Connecticut Bar Association and is currently serves as the Chair of the Criminal Justice Section. Cody also serves on the Board of Directors and as co-chair of the Criminal Justice Committee of the Hartford County Bar Association and is a fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, for which he is the Chair of the James W. Cooper Fellow Roundtables Program. Cody is also a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Cody was listed as a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in Connecticut from 2015 to the present. Cody has been Lead Counsel Rated in Criminal Defense since 2014 and his lawyer rating on is a perfect 10 out of 10. Cody is also a member of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, the American Association for Justice and the Litigation Section, Administrative Law Section and Lawyer Wellbeing Committee of the Connecticut Bar Association. He has also been invited to speak at seminars and panels, including the annual meeting of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Connecticut Bar Association’s Connecticut Legal Conference as well as at continuing legal education programs held by the CBA and other organizations.