M.T. Connolly
Director of Life Long Justice 

Marie-Therese (MT) Connolly is the Director of Life Long Justice (LLJ), a strategic initiative she co-founded with other leaders in the field to advance elder justice by leveraging evidence, experience, expertise and evaluation. Life Long Justice is affiliated with Appleseed, a nationwide network of public interest justice centers. MT is also a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where she is writing a book about elder justice, and she is a consulting expert to a U.S. Department of Justice project creating a national roadmap for the elder justice field.  

MT has played critical roles in advancing elder justice law and advocacy, helping to shape legislation and policy, promote meaningful implementation of key laws, and write about elder justice in ways that make the issues more accessible. She conceived of and was the original architect of the Elder Justice Act (EJA), the only federal law to comprehensively address elder abuse, neglect and exploitation (enacted in 2010 with the Affordable Care Act). While at the Senate, on loan from DOJ, she convened key stakeholders in support of elder justice, a group that evolved into the Elder Justice Coalition. As the first head of DOJ’s Elder Justice and Nursing Home Initiative, she initiated the first (and still only) ongoing elder justice research grant program, now in its sixth year. She also founded the federal inter-agency Elder Justice Working Group, and organized events, such as the first ever forum on the medical forensics of elder abuse, to break down silos and promote collaboration and communication among experts and practitioners in law, health care, social services and finance. 

 

A prominent public voice on elder justice topics, MT has testified before Congress and written frequently on many facets of law, policy, and the compelling stories of people whose lives are touched by elder abuse.  MT has been recognized for her efforts and thought leadership, winning a number of awards for her work, including: the Policy Leadership Award (2010) and Outstanding Advocacy Award (2000) from the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long Term Care; the Rosalie Wolf Award from the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse; and awards from the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the President’s Commission on Integrity and Efficiency.

 

A native of Rochester, Minnesota, MT is a graduate of Stanford University and Northeastern University Law School and clerked for the Honorable Paul H. Roney, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

 

mtconnolly@appleseednetwork.org
202.347.7960

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