Leading New York Practice Scholar Plans to Visit Touro Law in the Fall – Professor Patrick Connors Appointed Scholar in Residence

Touro Law Center Dean Patricia Salkin is pleased to announce that Professor Patrick Connors has been appointed Scholar in Residence for the Fall 2015 semester. Professor Connors will be teaching New York Practice.

“Professor Connors is the authoritative scholar in New York Practice. His years of scholarship and teaching, drafting and consulting work, will be a great asset to our law school community. Our students will benefit greatly from his experience and expertise and there is already a buzz in the community about the fact that he will be in residence at Touro Law this fall,” stated Dean Patricia Salkin.

Professor Patrick Connors grew up in Mineola, where he resided until moving upstate for his clerkship with Judge Richard D. Simons in 1998. He first visited Touro Law in the summer of 1993, when he was a Reporter for the Committee on New York Pattern Jury Instructions (“PJI”). Professor Connors served in that role until 2004, working closely with its chair, Touro Law Professors Leon Lazer, and Professor Eileen Kaufman, who was also a Reporter for the Committee. 

Professor Connors’s first contact with Albany Law School was, coincidentally, with Dean Patricia Salkin, who recruited him to present an ethics CLE in 1999. Professor Connors left private practice to teach New York Civil Practice and Professional Responsibility at Albany Law School in 2000, where he continued to work closely with Dean Salkin on several programs over the next decade. Prior to joining the Albany Law School faculty he was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law where he taught Professional Responsibility from 1991 to 1999.

Professor Connors stated, “Based on my history with the school, I know Touro Law to be a vibrant school with an active student body, accomplished alumni community, and dedicated faculty. I look forward to returning to Long Island and teaching New York Civil Practice at Touro in the fall of 2015.”

He received his B.A. degree from Georgetown University and his J.D. degree from St. John’s Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review and research assistant to Professor David D. Siegel.

Upon graduation from St. John’s in 1988, Professor Connors served as a personal law clerk to Judge Richard D. Simons of the New York Court of Appeals until 1991. From 1991 until May of 2000 he was an associate and then member of the litigation department at Hancock & Estabrook, LLP, in Syracuse, New York.

Commencing with the January 2013 supplement, Professor Connors became the author for Siegel, New York Practice (5th ed.). In addition, he is the author of the McKinney’s Practice Commentaries for CPLR Article 22, Stay, Motions, Orders and Mandates, Article 23, Subpoenas, Oaths and Affirmations, Article 30, Remedies and Pleading, and Article 31, Disclosure. He also authors the Practice Commentaries for the New York Rules of Professional Conduct (available on Westlaw; in progress) and several articles in the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act. He is also the author of the New York Practice column and the annual Court of Appeals Roundup on New York Civil Practice, which are published in the New York Law Journal. His publications have been cited in over 140 reported cases. 

He is a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics. He served on the New York State Attorney Grievance Committee for the Fifth Judicial District from 1997 until 2000. He was the Reporter for the New York State Bar Association's Special Committee on the Code of Judicial Conduct, which published a report recommending substantial amendments to New York’s Code of Judicial Conduct. He was also the Reporter for the New York State Bar Association's Task Force on Non-lawyer Ownership of Law Firms. He is a member of the Office of Court Administration’s Advisory Committee on Civil Practice and served as a member of the New York State Bar Association’s CPLR Committee from 2003 through 2007.

Professor Connors is a frequent lecturer at continuing legal education seminars on recent developments in New York Practice, professional ethics and legal malpractice.

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Patti Desrochers

Director of Communications

pattid@tourolaw.edu

(631) 761-7062