Dan Granfield with 2022 Professor of the Year Vince Cardi.
Meet Dan Granfield
Dan is from West Haven, Connecticut. He majored in economics and political science at the University of Rhode Island. After that, he worked on Capitol Hill and for a government relations firm in Washington, D.C. While in law school, he has held legal internships with the Connecticut Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice. This year, Dan has worked in the Immigration Law Clinic.
What are your plans after graduation?
This summer, I will be moving to New Hampshire to focus on the bar exam. Then, after a vacation in the Pacific Northwest, I will start work for Sulloway & Hollis P.L.L.C. as an Associate Attorney. The firm has multiple locations throughout New England, and I will be based at their headquarters in Concord, New Hampshire. I start right after Labor Day, and I’m very excited!
Sulloway & Hollis work for a broad range of clients in business, labor and employment, healthcare, insurance, state taxation, estate planning, litigation and education law. Our clients include businesses, public entities, nonprofit organizations, health care institutions, municipalities, educational institutions and individuals.
How did you end up getting the job at Sulloway & Hollis?
Sometime during my 2L year, I realized I wanted to head back closer to home, and more specifically, New Hampshire. I began searching WVU Law alum in the New England states, and I quickly learned that WVU Law isn’t a natural pipeline to New England, especially in the more rural states like New Hampshire. So I knew in order to get up there, I couldn’t rely on applications alone.
That’s when I came across one of the only alums in the state, Christopher Pyles '94. Chris is a member and managing director of Sulloway & Hollis. I reached out to him to network, and he has been a great mentor ever since.
Other WVU Law alumni were helpful, too! From the moment I realized I wanted to head closer to home, I emailed numerous WVU Law grads and had “virtual coffees” over Zoom with very helpful alumni in Connecticut and the greater Boston area. Everyone I reached out to was always willing to meet and was very helpful throughout this process.
Why a job in New England?
I’ve always been drawn to New Hampshire. I grew up in Connecticut and would always find myself visiting New Hampshire, whether it was for vacations, hockey tournaments, or visiting college friends. It’s a beautiful, mountainous state that shares many of the same qualities that attracted me to West Virginia. Both states have that “get outdoors” culture, so to speak.
After working in Washington, D.C., for a few years, then living here in West Virginia, I realized that I wanted to settle somewhere closer to family. That’s when New Hampshire became a no-brainer for me.
Sulloway & Hollis seemed like a natural fit for me. On paper, it has everything I was looking for in a firm, such as the ideal location, a wide variety of practice areas, and the ability to grow in the firm. What solidified Sulloway & Hollis for me, though, was the people I met throughout the interviewing process. Everyone I met there was very sincere, kind, and very intelligent. They were also well-rounded and shared the same priorities that I have.
Dan Granfield making his winning argument before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in the 2021 Baker Cup final in Charleston.
You've been class president for three years.
Why did you want that role?
There were a few reasons why I ultimately decided to run for class president back in 2019. First, I’ve always been drawn to leadership positions. I enjoyed being the president of my fraternity (Sigma Alpha Epsilon) at the University of Rhode Island, and I felt it would be a great experience here. I’m the type of person that invests in whatever community I am in. Moreover, Accepted Students Day in 2019 was the second time I’d even stepped foot in the Mountain State. So I felt that not only would the position provide me the opportunity to help others, but it would also help me get acclimated to my class and the WVU community as a whole.
What are your favorite things and accomplishments as class president?
This may sound cliché, but my favorite thing about this role is simply being able to help my classmates. I like my class a lot, and as a class, we’ve gone through a lot during our time here, such as a pandemic, social unrest, the death of a classmate, and the deaths of family members, among other things. It hasn’t been an easy three years for many of us, but being able to have the backs of my classmates has been very rewarding.
A few achievements stick out, but the one I’ll remember most was the t-shirt sale during the spring of 2020. Once the pandemic hit and everything went online, the class officers and I did not know how to give back to the community in a virtual environment.
We decided to have a t-shirt sale with t-shirts bearing the phrase “Country Roads Keep Me Home” since the world was all on lock-down. We decided we would donate all of the proceeds to the Morgantown-area Meals on Wheels. The t-shirts ended up becoming a hit, and we raised over $2,000 for Meals on Wheels. More than a year later in the Nashville airport, I saw someone wearing our shirt! It goes to show how tight-knit the WVU community is.
Dan Granfield and his girlfriend, Meredith, at a Mountaineers football game.
