Mary E. Connolly

Mary E. Connolly is the Chief Practice Officer at Nutter. In this role, she leads the firm’s professional development, practice management support, and lateral attorney integration functions. Mary works closely with firm leadership, department chairs, and administrative leaders in supporting Nutter’s goal of hiring, developing, integrating, and retaining top notch legal talent, and optimizing attorney performance, engagement, and client service. In addition, Mary directs systems that support attorney career development and the firm’s lateral integration strategy. 

Mary possesses nearly two decades of practice management and business operations leadership across major law firms and professional services organizations. Prior to joining Nutter, she served as Senior Director at Zenith Legal, where she advised law firms on market mapping, talent strategy, and practice expansion. Previously, Mary was Managing Director of Operations at at the family office of a leading global technology investor, where she was a key strategic and operational adviser to the COO, oversaw business operations and talent management across multiple locations worldwide, and led the team’s early integration of enterprise AI tools.

Her professional services firm career includes Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Isaacson, Miller, where she implemented go-to-market plans across 11 practice areas and built individual business development plans for more than 40 partners. At Goodwin, Mary held roles in both Boston and London, serving as the first International Marketing and Business Development Director and supporting the launch of new offices and the integration of more than 50 lateral partners and counsel across the U.S., U.K., Europe, and Hong Kong. She began her career in practice management at Skadden and Hunton & Williams in Washington, D.C., and later served as Practice Management and Business Development Manager at Goulston & Storrs.

Mary holds an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland, an M.A. in political science from the University of Rhode Island, and a B.A. in international relations from Webster University.