Ciaran P. A. Connelly

Ciaran Connelly joined Ball Janik LLP in 2011 as a Litigation associate in the firm’s Portland office. He is a business and trial attorney with broad experience in business and commercial litigation. As an associate with two prominent New York law firms, Mr. Connelly handled diverse matters ranging from complex commercial lease and contract disputes to mass–tort and insurance disputes, to regulatory and compliance investigation and defense.

Mr. Connelly’s experience with complex commercial contract and real estate disputes includes representing an investment bank in a $100 million lease dispute with its landlord, where he was responsible for all aspects of litigation from initial document gathering and client interviews to depositions, witness preparation, client counsel, trial preparation, mediation and arbitration sessions, and drafting of appellate briefs, motion papers, affidavits, and letters. More recently Mr. Connelly worked on a dispute involving the control and ownership of several high–profile office buildings in Portland. He consulted with a biotechnology firm to assess the merits of a potential contract and intellectual property dispute with its joint–venture research partner over an enzyme to be used in the production of biofuels. He also represented a bank in a contract dispute with its client, a CEO, regarding a complex derivative transaction called a “cashless collar.” Mr. Connelly also has experience working on contract disputes with subjects as diverse as complex inter–lender agreements, railroad trackage rights, and head–hunting fees.

Mr. Connelly has broad tort experience, including defending a Fortune 200 company in a nine–month civil RICO trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and in the subsequent appeal. He represented a Fortune 100 company in a shareholder dispute related to a multi–billion–dollar merger, and was part of a team that recovered $30 million on behalf of a union for actuarial malpractice. He also helped resolve a reinsurer’s liability in connection with a $1 billion Ponzi scheme. In a significant insurance coverage case, Mr. Connelly represented a reinsurance company in a $300 million bad–faith dispute with its reinsured related to an asbestos claim. In that case, he was responsible for preparing for a mock–jury exercise, including performing factual and legal research, synthesizing arguments, coordinating those arguments with retained experts’ views, and developing effective presentation materials. Most recently Mr. Connelly has represented large institutional investors in mortgage–backed securities in their multi–billion–dollar securities claims against a number of Wall Street banks.

Mr. Connelly has significant experience representing corporations in regulatory and internal investigations. In addition to responding to FINRA and state attorney general requests, he represented a major accounting firm in an SEC investigation of the accounting practices of its largest client. He also aided an investment bank with an internal FCPA investigation into its business in China. Mr. Connelly also has experience in criminal appeals work, having handled two pro–bono appeals, one on behalf of a defendant, and one on behalf of the King County (Brooklyn) District Attorney’s office.

Depth and Experience

Prior to joining Ball Janik LLP, Mr. Connelly was an associate with Grais & Ellsworth LLP, a boutique New York City law firm, where his practice focused on private label mortgage–backed securities litigation. Mr. Connelly’s responsibilities included researching legal and factual bases for claims, drafting pleadings and client memoranda, and managing teams of attorneys preparing for discovery.

From 2004 to 2009, Mr. Connelly was an associate with Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, an internationally recognized law firm, where his work focused on complex commercial litigation, white collar criminal cases, and regulatory investigations.

Before entering law school in 2001, Mr. Connelly was a litigation paralegal for two years with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York.

Mr. Connelly is a member of the American Bar Association, the Multnomah Bar Association and the Dartmouth Lawyers Association.