Mr. Connelly earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1994 from Boston College Law School in Newton, Massachusetts. During his law school years, Mr. Connelly studied in the trial practice clinical program, participated in mock trial and moot court competitions, clerked for a Boston trial court judge and taught an introduction to law course to undergraduate students at Boston College. Mr. Connelly earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Political Philosophy summa cum laude from Syracuse University in 1991. He was also inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and Golden Key Honor Society.
Mr. Connelly is admitted to practice before all New Mexico state and federal courts and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a member of the State Bar of New Mexico; the New Mexico Defense Lawyer’s Association; the New Mexico Workers Compensation Association and the Defense Research Institute. Mr. Connelly concentrates his practice on civil litigation in subject areas as varied as medical malpractice, public entity defense, liquor liability, catastrophic personal injury, residential treatment care, and workers’ compensation. During his first decade of practice, Mr. Connelly focused on litigation in criminal matters before joining YLAW in 2004. He has tried more than 25 cases to juries and in excess of 100 cases to the bench in both court and administrative proceedings. Mr. Connelly is happily married, serves on his neighborhood association board, and in November 2022 completed the 140.6-mile Ironman Arizona triathlon.