• Business Disputes
• Professional Malpractice

• University of Southern California, 1972, J.D.
• Stanford, 1969, B.A.

• Moscarino & Connolly LLP, 2004-2010
• O'Neil, Lysaght & Sun LLP, 1988-2004
• Adams, Duque & Hazeltine, 1977-1987
• U.S. Department of Justice, 1974-1976
• Deputy District Attorney, Los Angeles County, 1972-1973

• Served as director, officer and trustee of several non-profit organizations including a private grant-making foundation, a school, a foundation supporting families of police officers, and an amateur sport club.

• California
• All Federal District Courts in California
• Ninth Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court

Joe Connolly’s litigation experience has included several dozen civil and criminal trials, in several jurisdictions.  His clients have been large and small business entities, law firms, individuals and governments.  Joe has litigated for and against insurance companies; defended clients against the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Resolution Trust Corporation, the California Attorney General, and other government agencies; and (with John Moscarino) won a $42 million jury verdict against a major accounting firm. 

Joe has acted as a mediator, and as an arbitrator for the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD); served as a Hearing Examiner for the Los Angeles Police Commission; and has been designated as a testifying expert witness in several cases involving alleged legal malpractice and fee disputes.

Joe started his career as a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles (1972-1973), then served in the U.S. Department of Justice as a Trial Attorney, Criminal Section, Civil Rights Division (1974-1976).  He was also a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia in 1975.  From 1977-1987, he was an associate and partner at Adams, Duque & Hazeltine in Los Angeles. He joined the Santa Monica firm of O’Neill, Lysaght & Sun as a partner in 1988 and founded Moscarino & Connolly LLP on January 1, 2004 and moved to McLeod, Moscarino, Witham & Flynn LLP on July 1, 2010.