Career
He was appointed by then Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to the Colorado Court of Appeals in 2008 and did not seek retention of his appointment in 2011 and returned to private practice. Early career Connelly began his career as a judicial law clerk with the United States. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1984. He was in private practice from 1984 to 1990 prior to joining the United States Department of Justice.
United States. Department of Justice 1990 - 2002 Connelly joined the United States. Department of Justice in 1990.
During his 12 years at Justice, Connelly served as a Special Attorney to United States Attorney General John Ashcroft and Janet Reno, as Chief of the United States. Attorney" General’ s Office Appellate Section, and as a Criminal Division trial attorney. Those prosecutions resulted in the separate convictions of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols for the April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which resulted in 168 deaths.
Reilly Pozner Limited Liability Partnership 2002 - 2008 Following his roles at the United States. Department of Justice, Connelly returned to private practice in 2002 at the law firm of Reilly Pozner Limited Liability Partnership (known as Hoffman, Reilly & Pozner at the time). One of his most publicized cases during his time at Reilly Pozner involved the ownership dispute of the Denver Broncos between Pat Bowlen and Edgar Kaiser.
Kaiser originally sold his share of the team to Bowlen in 1984.
Kaiser sued Bowlen in 2004 after Bowlen offered John Elway a 10% share in the team Connelly represented Bowlen during the appeal process, during which the appeals court overturned the original ruling, stating that the deal between Bowlen and Elway did not violate any agreement between Kaiser and Bowlen. Connelly was made partner in the firm in 2002 and was with the firm until 2008 prior to his judicial appointment.
Colorado Court of Appeals 2008 - 2011 Connelly was appointed to the Colorado Court of Appeals by then Governor Bill Ritter in 2008.
During his time on the bench, he authored more than 40 published opinions. In July 2010, he announced that he would not seek retention of his appointment and would return to the law firm of Reilly Pozner Limited Liability Partnership to oversee the opening of their new law office in Washington District of Columbia
