Clare E. Connors

Ms. Connors has varied experience working in both the public and private sectors. Raised in Hawaii, she attended Yale College, graduating with honors. Ms. Connors then served for three years as the Operations Coordinator for the City of New York, Parks & Recreation Department. She left the City of New York to attend Harvard Law School, where she earned her Juris Doctor degree. Upon graduating from law school, Ms. Connors returned to Hawaii and clerked for then-Chief United States District Court Judge David Alan Ezra.

Ms. Connors began her legal career in public service, representing the United States of America as a trial attorney prosecuting federal crimes. She joined the Department of Justices Tax Division in Washington, D.C., where she prosecuted complex tax crimes. In 2004, Ms. Connors returned home to become an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the United States Attorneys Office in the District of Hawaii. She served there for approximately seven years, where she prosecuted a broad variety of crimes, but specialized in the handling of complex fraud, public corruption and tax matters. For the last seven years, and prior to her appointment at the Attorney General for the State of Hawaii, Ms. Connors worked as a civil litigator and partner with the law firm Davis Levin Livingston, where she primarily handled commercial disputes, wrongful death actions, medical malpractice claims on behalf of injured persons and other personal injury matters.

Ms. Connors has been active in both the state and federal bar associations. She has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law, where she co-taught a course on small businesses and entrepreneurship. In 2015, Ms. Connors was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as a federal district judge for the District of Hawaii. Her nomination was awaiting a final vote by the full Senate in 2016, when President Obama left office.