Nate Baber is a highly skilled and passionate attorney who manages the personal injury, wage and hour, and criminal defense practice groups at his firm. With extensive experience in both State and Federal Court, Nate has successfully argued cases in the Connecticut Appellate Court and has litigated numerous cases before various Connecticut State Agencies.
Nate is currently the President of the Board of Directors for the Hockanum Valley Community Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting low-income and at-risk families in the Vernon, CT and Tolland County area. He and his wife, Kristin, are also licensed foster parents and were awarded Foster Parents of the Year by the Department of Children and Families in 2023.
Nate graduated with honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law in just two and a half years. His academic achievements include receiving the highest grade in Trial Advocacy and the Criminal Defense Clinic, as well as winning the prestigious Alva P. Loiselle Moot Court Competition. Prior to law school, Nate graduated from the University of Connecticut, where his research on the constitutionality of DNA databases was recognized as the best in political science.
Company: InjuredCT
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Nate Baber: My name is Nate Baber. I am an attorney and partner at a Connecticut-based InjuredCT law firm where I manage our personal injury, wage and hour, and criminal defense practice groups. My practice centers on fighting for individuals against the largest institutions in the state—government agencies, municipalities, insurance companies, hospitals and corporate defendants—particularly in cases involving abuse, harassment, serious injury or labor violations.
The firm has recovered tens of millions of dollars for individuals in cases ranging from wage theft to civil rights violations. We represent direct care workers, factory technicians, white-collar professionals and criminal defendants who are often under-resourced and overwhelmed when going up against employers, prosecutors or state actors with unlimited resources. That imbalance is exactly what drives our litigation strategy. Whether it is a Fortune 500 defendant or a state entity, we are built to challenge those with power on behalf of those without it.
How do you personally define success, and how has that definition evolved throughout your career?
Nate Baber: Success, in the early years, meant results. It meant jury verdicts, favorable rulings, high-value settlements and hard numbers—like $1 million in damages for an injured client or a criminal charge dismissed outright. Winning was the scoreboard. Over time, the metric has changed. Success now includes building something that outlives the outcome of any one case. That means mentoring young lawyers, serving the community, and staying accountable to the people and causes that got me into the profession in the first place.
The evolution of success now reflects consistency and impact. Representing clients who have been systematically mistreated—abuse victims, wage workers, the wrongfully accused—requires more than advocacy in a courtroom. It demands showing up again and again, year after year, with the same urgency, energy and commitment. If the clients can show up with courage, then the lawyer must show up with backbone. That is success.
What lasting impact do you hope to leave through your business, and what steps are you taking to build that legacy?
Nate Baber: The legacy is to build a firm that is known statewide for being relentless in representing the underrepresented. That means standing up to the government, large corporations, municipal agencies, and religious organizations without blinking, even when the pressure gets personal. Over the last five years, the firm has recovered millions in damages for individuals who were harmed by those with far more resources. Those results came from cases involving public schools, hospitals, state prisons, national corporations, and long-term care facilities. Reputation matters, and the goal is to ensure no one forgets that someone stood up and forced accountability when it mattered most.
The groundwork is ongoing through pro bono advocacy, public service appointments, and community leadership. Serving as president of the board of directors at HVCC, becoming a foster parent, and representing clients with no ability to pay are not resume lines—they are daily reminders of why the firm was built. Clients are not numbers or case files. They are people who have been overlooked or shut down. The long-term goal is to institutionalize that kind of representation in a way that lasts beyond one attorney’s career.
Beyond financial success, what initiatives—whether in mentorship, sustainability, or social responsibility—are you most proud of?
Nate Baber: The work that matters most happens outside the courtroom. That includes pro bono representation of people denied basic rights, serving as board president for a nonprofit that provides food, housing, and mental health services to hundreds of at-risk families, and taking in foster children who need a stable home. In 2023, the Department of Children and Families named my wife and me Foster Parents of the Year. That came after nearly years spent fostering a young child while managing a full caseload and legislative work on a task force studying child sexual abuse accountability in Connecticut.
The work is personal, which is exactly what gives it staying power. Mentorship of young attorneys happens at the firm every day, especially those who want to serve communities affected by poverty, violence, and exploitation. Volunteer hours go toward legal clinics and speaking engagements with future lawyers and social workers. Advocacy continues even in cases where no fees are recovered, because justice has never been measured in dollars alone. The goal is to leave behind a career that elevated the people no one wanted to hear from and held the most well-insulated institutions to account.
What lessons have you learned about leadership that you wish more entrepreneurs understood early on?
Nate Baber: Leadership demands the ability to delegate with trust and precision. A good leader does not hoard responsibility or micromanage. Instead, effective leaders train and empower others with clarity and consistency. The team needs direction with purpose, not pressure without structure. Early on, too many leaders burn out trying to hold every line themselves. At scale, that model collapses fast and pulls people down with it.
Success in leadership is measured in the growth and commitment of those who stay. A strong leader accepts that outcomes are rarely clean and processes are never perfect. The ability to admit fault, correct course and protect the integrity of the mission defines long-term success. Emotional detachment from ego, paired with fierce loyalty to principle, sets a tone that holds when stress runs high. The right people will rally behind a leader who protects them, challenges them and never makes excuses.
Looking ahead, how do you see your industry evolving, and what role do you hope to play in shaping its future?
Nate Baber: Legal practice is shifting under pressure from automation, case backlog, and widening access gaps. As the system becomes more saturated with pro se litigants, and as tech-fueled tools attempt to standardize legal advice, the risk of depersonalizing justice rises. The challenge is not simply speed or access but preserving the human element in advocacy. I see this industry headed toward further specialization and concentrated expertise, especially in litigation where opposing entrenched institutions requires more than templates or AI. The future demands attorneys who know how to try a case in front of twelve jurors, not just file motions on a portal.
My role is to anchor that fight in real-world accountability. That includes representing the voiceless against institutions with $10 million insurance policies, litigating wrongful convictions that were hidden behind procedural walls for 15 years, or filing wage claims for 500 hourly workers misclassified to avoid $800,000 in overtime. I want to push legal institutions to stop insulating themselves with complexity and start measuring their success in lives protected and wrongs repaired. If lawyers are not fighting abuse, exploitation, or injustice, they are just paper shufflers.
