2023 Hall of Fame Inductee Allison I. Connelly Class of 1983

Professor Allison I. Connelly, a clinical professor of law, joined the faculty in 1996 as the first Director of the College's Legal Clinic. Prior to joining the law school, she spent 13 years as a state public defender providing direct representation, including death penalty representation, to needy individuals at all levels of the criminal justice system.

She rose through the ranks to become the only woman ever named as Kentucky’s Public Advocate, the head of Kentucky's statewide public defender system.

Connelly also has numerous published appellate decisions to her credit. She received her B.A. degree from the University of Kentucky and her J.D. degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law.

Connelly also taught litigation skills, criminal procedure, criminal trial process and legal writing, and was the Director of the Kentucky Legal Education Opportunity (KLEO) Summer Institute. She is the founder of the Kentucky Intrastate Mock Trial Competition and is also the coach of the college’s highly successful trial teams, which include 11 nationally ranked trial teams in the last 19 years. She has received numerous awards for teaching and public service including the 2016 Duncan Teaching Award, 2016 University of Kentucky’s Lyons Award for Public Service, the 2015 Kentucky Bar Association’s Donated Legal Services Award, the 2011 Kentucky Bar Association’s Service to Young Lawyers Award, and the 2009 UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award.