Justice Nora R. Dannehy was nominated to the Supreme Court on September 1, 2023, by Governor Ned Lamont. She was confirmed by the Connecticut General Assembly on September 26, 2023, and sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court on the same day.
Justice Dannehy is a Connecticut native. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and French from Wellesley College where she was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Prize in Political Science and she was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She received her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Following law school, Justice Dannehy served as a Judicial Clerk for the Honorable T. Emmet Clarie of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.
Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Dannehy served as the General Counsel to the Office of Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. In this role, she served as chief legal advisor to the Governor and members of the administration on a wide range of statutory and policy matters.
From 2019 to 2020, Justice Dannehy served as Counsel to the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut where she provided advice and counsel to the United States Attorney on policy, investigations, and operations.
From 2013 to 2019, Justice Dannehy was employed by the United Technologies Corporation (UTC) first as Associate General Counsel and then as Chief Compliance Officer, Corporate Vice President, where she managed and oversaw UTC’s Global Ethics and Compliance Unit with a focus on risk mitigation, legal compliance, and ethics.
In 2011, Justice Dannehy was appointed Deputy Attorney General for the State of Connecticut where she supervised the operations of the Office of Attorney General until 2013.
Between 1991 and 2011, Justice Dannehy served the United States Department of Justice in several roles in which she investigated and prosecuted complex white collar and public corruption matters as an Assistant and Supervisory Assistant United States Attorney, Special Attorney in the District of Columbia, and becoming the first woman to serve as Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
In addition to her professional roles, Justice Dannehy serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law.