A. Paul Spinella • Professional Resume

Before starting his own office, A. Paul Spinella practiced law for over ten years with one of Hartford County's most prominent law firms where he was a partner in charge of litigation. During that time he represented many of Connecticut's largest insurance companies before developing his present Plaintiff's based practice.

A particular area of Mr. Spinella's practice is the area of criminal trial and appellate practice. He is the Author of Connecticut Criminal Procedure a 1,000 page textbook which examines the history, development, and existing state of the law of Connecticut criminal procedure. First published in 1985, this text was the result of four years of labor -- it has recently been supplemented and is presently undergoing additional revisions.

The commitment and devotion demonstrated by his dedication to this project is directed to his clients, to wit: he represents the citizens accused of crimes in all of Connecticut's trial courts, as well as before the State's appellate courts where he represents citizens convicted of crime seeking post-conviction remedies either in the trial or appellate courts.

In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Mr. Spinella is a litigator who has had enormous experience in the trenches -- he has tried major cases to verdict in every type of prosecution in all of Connecticut's courts.

As a result of his zealous defense of the citizen accused, Mr. Spinella has developed a substantial practice prosecuting claims on behalf of citizens who have had their rights violated by police and prosecutors. He has pursued widely publicized police misconduct and civil rights claims against virtually every major municipality in Connecticut.

Mr. Spinella has lectured widely in the areas of Plaintiff's rights; police misconduct and civil rights; and criminal defense issues. In addition, he has participated in numerous professional organizations devoted to these and related areas. For example, he is a longtime member of the Connecticut Bar Association where he served as a member of the House of Delegates. He is presently a member of the Executive Committee of the Civil Rights Section and has previously served as Chairman; during his tenure as Chairman he organized and chaired a highly regarded seminar which greatly influenced the development of State Constitutional Jurisprudence. He has also served previously and presently on a number of other State Bar Committees such as the Executive Committee of the Criminal Justice Section and the Executive Committee of the Professional Responsibility Section. He is also a member of the Hartford Bar Association (where he presently serves on the Scholarship Fund) as well as a number of other state and national organizations devoted to Civil and Criminal trial practice such as the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (former chair of Lawyer's Assistance Task Force); National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (Lifetime member); as well as being actively involved in the Connecticut and American Trial Lawyers Association.

Throughout his career Mr. Spinella has obtained impressive results in a wide-range of Plaintiff's cases, and in cases involving the criminally accused. Samples of these cases are described on the FIRM CASES page of this web site. He feels strongly that there are two types of courtroom advocates -- litigators, and trial lawyers. A trial lawyer cares about results and will go to the mat to vindicate his client's rights because he believes in what he does and sees himself as a member of a profession with a great history, and not as a businessman. Mr. Spinella is a trial lawyer.

He is a graduate of Trinity College and the University of Connecticut Law School where he served as an associate editor of the Law Review and as a member of the National Moot Court Team. Following law school he served an appointment as a law clerk to a Federal District Court judge.

Spinella & Associates. Making the law work for YOU.

A. Paul Spinella | David K. Jaffe | Justin Donnelly

Spinella & Associates • 1 Lewis St. • Hartford CT 06103-3402
phone: (860) 728-4900 • fax: (860) 728-4909
E-mail: attorney@spinella-law.com