Rhode Island

John J. McConnell, Jr.
Member Attorney

With 25 years of experience in complex litigation, Jack McConnell directs the Environmental practice group at Motley Rice, seeking corporate accountability and crafting resourceful and innovative strategies and solutions of environmental hazards and contamination. Jack represents individuals, groups of citizens, municipalities, counties and states in cases of personal injury, property damage and economic loss as a result of negligent environmental practices.

Jack led the trial team representing the State of Rhode Island in the public nuisance litigation against the major former manufacturers of lead paint. He currently manages lead pigment and childhood lead poisoning cases on behalf of children and families affected by lead poisoning.

Jack’s career in complex litigation began with asbestos cases and trials, including several mass consolidation cases on behalf of more than ten thousand asbestos victims in Maryland, Mississippi and West Virginia, and a jury verdict for the family of a mesothelioma victim in his first trial as lead counsel. Additionally, he played a central role in the historic litigation against the tobacco industry on behalf of the State Attorneys General, serving as a negotiator and primary drafter of the Master Settlement Agreement.

Nationally recognized for his legal and trial achievements, Jack has been named in The Best Lawyers in America since 2007, was highlighted in the 2009 edition of The Legal 500, was named one of LawyerUSA’s Lawyers of the Year in 2006 and was a finalist for Trial Lawyer of the Year by Public Justice. Additionally, the Rhode Island Trial Lawyers Association named the lead paint case as a Case of the Year. He received the National Association of Attorneys General’s President’s Award and Case Western Reserve University’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Award. In Rhode Island, Jack has been honored with the Childhood Lead Action Project’s Above and Beyond the Call of Duty Award, the Rhode Island Bar Association’s Dorothy Lohman Award, the Rhode Island ARC’s Silver Bullet Award and the Rhode Island Public Health Association’s Betram Yaffe Award.

Prior to joining Motley Rice attorneys in 1986, Jack practiced with Mandell, Goodman, Famiglietti & Schwartz, Ltd., and served as a clerk for the Honorable Donald F. Shea of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Named a Motley Rice member in 2003, he is the managing partner of the Providence, Rhode Island, office.

An advocate in the Rhode Island community, Jack is Vice-Chair for Crossroads Rhode Island, Chairman of the Board for the Trinity Repertory Company and is active in the Democratic Party, including serving as treasurer of the Rhode Island Democratic State Committee. Jack is a member of the American Association for Justice, Public Justice and the Rhode Island Association for Justice, for which he serves on the Board of Governors.