HWG

Litigation & Investigations

Tom Connolly is routinely recognized as one of the leading practitioners in litigation, focusing on trial practice and matters of complex criminal and civil litigation, as well as internal and governmental investigations.

Tom has represented a variety of individual and corporate clients in matters including white collar criminal defense, securities and accounting fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), antitrust, environmental, healthcare fraud, export controls, and matters involving national security. He has also represented clients called to testify before House and Senate committees.

Tom founded HWG’s litigation practice and served as chair until 2024.

Before joining HWG, Tom served ten years as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Columbia. During his tenure as a prosecutor, Tom was lead trial counsel in more than 50 jury trials in matters involving espionage, homicide, RICO, public corruption, bank fraud, government procurement fraud, export control matters, and immigration fraud.

Tom was awarded both the John Marshall Award, the Department of Justice’s highest honor, as well as the Intelligence Medallion, the CIA’s highest civilian honor, for his work in the prosecution of James Nicholson, the highest-ranking CIA official ever convicted of espionage.  Tom also successfully prosecuted David Sheldon Boone, a National Security Agency (NSA) crypto analyst, for spying on behalf of the Russian Federation.

Tom is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a professional organization of the leading trial attorneys in the nation.  In addition, Best Lawyers has identified him as a leading litigator every year since 2004 and Chambers USA ranked him among the nation’s leading white-collar crime and government investigations practitioners.  He has been recognized 10 times in Washingtonian magazine’s “Best Lawyers” in D.C. issue and in the publication’s 2022 “Top Lawyers Hall of Fame” list.

William and Mary Law School, J.D. (1987)

Northwestern University, B.S. (1984)