About James Connell
Image credit: Organization of American States
Image credit: Kristina Sherk
With over twenty-five years of legal experience, James Connell is committed to protecting and promoting human rights in a variety of contexts, including criminal defense and musical expression.
Most prominently, Mr. Connell leads a joint military-civilian multidisciplinary team in defending a Guantanamo Bay prisoner against death penalty charges. At the same time, he assists artists to express themselves musically by working with them on multiple legal aspects of the music business, especially contracts and intellectual property.
After attending Florida State University, Mr. Connell obtained his law degree in 1996 from the College of William & Mary, the nation’s oldest law school. Mr. Connell served as law clerk to the Honorable Rosemarie Annunziata, then learned key litigation and negotiation skills through extensive trial practice in state and federal courts. In 2006, Mr. Connell earned the “Learned Counsel” credential required to defend capital cases in federal courts.
Image credit: Organization of American States
Mr. Connell has appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States, two Circuit Courts, the federal courts of Virginia, D.C. and Texas, and the United States Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay. Mr. Connell is a member of the state bars of New York, Virginia, and Maryland. Mr. Connell has also addressed the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva, Switzerland and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
In 2022, Mr. Connell earned his Graduate Certificate in Music Business Law and Policy from Berklee College of Music. Mr. Connell has been accepted in the Master’s program in Music Business at Berklee, with graduation expected in 2024.
He is an internationally sought-after guest speaker on issues of human rights, training lawyers and civil society alike. Mr. Connell has lectured on legal issues throughout the world, including Scotland, Belgium, Qatar, Bosnia, the Netherlands, Lebanon, and Denmark. Mr. Connell has briefed and argued cases resulting in over forty published decisions in state, federal, and military courts. Mr. Connell has published sixteen articles and book chapters on a variety of legal topics.
