Patrick Connors, JD

Patrick M. Connors is a Professor of Law at Albany Law School where he teaches New York Practice and Legal Ethics. He was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law where he taught Professional Responsibility from 1991 to 1999.

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.

In January 2013, Professor Connors became the author for the NEW YORK PRACTICE treatise, which is now in its sixth edition. 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. From 1992 through 2003, he was a Reporter for the Committee on New York Pattern Jury Instructions (“PJI”), the panel of New York State Supreme Court Justices that drafts and oversees the frequent revisions of the standard jury charges in civil cases. His publications have been cited in over 130 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. He has also served as an expert witness and consultant on issues pertaining to attorney ethics, legal malpractice, and civil procedure.

In the Fall of 2015, Professor Connors was a Visiting Scholar in Residence at Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center.