Allison Connelly
Emeritus 2021
Allison 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 thirteen 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. Professor Connelly also has numerous published appellate decisions to her credit, including Commonwealth v. Chestnut, 250 S.W.3d 655 (Ky. 2008), a major open records case. She received her B.A. degree from the University of Kentucky and her J.D. degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law.
Professor Connelly also teaches litigation skills, criminal procedure, criminal trial process and legal writing, and is 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 eleven nationally ranked trial teams in the last nineteen 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.
Specialties
- Experiential Education
- Clinical Practice
- Litigation Skills
- Criminal Law
- Criminal Procedure
- Criminal Trial Process
Courses
- Law 821 Litigation Skills
- Law 960 Trial Advocacy Board
- Law 978 Advanced Legal Clinic
- Allison Connelly, Law and Programs for Older Kentuckians (5th ed. forthcoming 2016).
- Baldwin's Kentucky Lawyer's Handbook, Vol. 2, Criminal Practice (Allison Connelly ed.) (annual editions from 1995-2016).
- Criminal Law of Kentucky (2016) (contributing author and editor for annual editions from 1995-2016).
- Allison Connelly, Tips and Traps When Consulting the Elderly Client, in Estate, Financial and Health Care Planning for Elder Clients (National Business Institute, Eric B. Barnes ed., 2007).
- Allison Connelly, Law and Programs for Older Kentuckians (2001).
- Allison Connelly, Law and Programs for Older Kentuckians (2000).
- Allison Connelly, Ethical Considerations When Representing the Elderly Client, in Kentucky Elder Law (National Business Institute 1998).
- Drafter, amendment to Kentucky Supreme Court Rule 2.540, The Limited Practice Rule (2000).
Published Appellate Decisions in which Professor Connelly Advocated for a Litigant:
- Spees v. Kentucky Legal Aid, 274 S.W.3d 447 (Ky. 2009) (pro bono counsel).
- Dept. of Corrections v. Chestnut, 250 S.W.3d 655 (Ky. 2008) (pro bono counsel).
- Million v. Raymer, 139 S.W.3d 914 (Ky. 2004) (pro bono counsel).
- Land v. Commonwealth, 986 S.W.2d 440 (Ky. 1999) (pro bono counsel).
- Haight v. Commonwealth, 938 S.W.2d 243 (Ky. 1996).
- Fryrear v. Parker, 920 S.W.2d 519 (Ky. 1996).
- Haight v. Williamson, 833 S.W.2d 821 (Ky. 1992).
- Cooley v. Commonwealth, 821 S.W.2d 90 (Ky. 1991).
- Shaffer v. Morgan, 815 S.W.2d 402 (Ky. 1991).
- Sanders v. Commonwealth, 801 S.W.2d 665 (Ky. 1990).
- Campbell County v. Commonwealth, Kentucky Corrections Cabinet, 762 S.W.2d 6 (Ky. 1988).
- Huddleston v. Jennings, 723 S.W.2d 381 (Ky. Ct. App. 1986).
- Allison Connelly, A Sleeping Giant: §2 of the Kentucky Constitution, 14 The Advocate Newsletter (June 1992).
- Allison Connelly, Confronting Rape Shield, 9 The Advocate Newsletter (Apr. 1987).
- Allison Connelly, Silencing Gideon's Trumpet: The Plight of the Indigent Prisoner, 8 The Advocate Newsletter (Apr. 1986).