Sean Connelly
LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Sean Connelly will rejoin Denver’s Reilly Pozner, his old firm, when he steps down from the bench in January with plans to open a new office in Washington, D.C.
Dan Reilly and Larry Pozner, Connelly’s once and future law partners, said they supported his move to the bench while holding out hope that he’d return to the firm someday.
“We never filled his office,” Reilly said. “We always said, ‘If you ever want to get back to private practice, you’re always welcome here.’”
“We cherished working with Sean,” Pozner said. “He is an incredible intellect and we understood that he might go to the bench, but we always had a great deal of fun having Sean as a major part of the firm.”
Connelly will split time between Denver and Washington, D.C. His practice will focus on federal civil and criminal appeals, complex civil litigation and while collar criminal defense.
The firm’s expansion to Washington, D.C. was prompted both by Connelly’s desire to return to his legal roots (he was a Department of Justice lawyer there before moving to Denver) and to better serve the firm’s East Coast clients, which include Ingersoll Rand, Lehman Brothers and AIG.
Gov. Bill Ritter in 2008 appointed Connelly to the Court of Appeals. Connelly opted not to stand in the November retention election, allowing his term to expire in January.
Connelly originally moved to Denver more than a decade ago as part of the prosecution team in the Oklahoma City bombing trial and appeal process. He joined Reilly Pozner in 2002, and in 2006 became a named partner, with the firm restyling itself Reilly Pozner & Connelly. His named was dropped when he joined the bench and the firm will remain Reilly Pozner when he returns.
