Woody Connette has practiced law for over thirty years. He grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina; finished Davidson College in 1974; and graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1977. 

Woody has extensive experience representing those who have suffered catastrophic personal injuries, loss of family members by wrongful death, Long Term Disability benefit claims, and denial of health benefit coverage for needed medical procedures. He is familiar with ERISA and other federal and state laws and regulations in the retirement, disability health care area. Woody has also participated in class action litigation for over twenty-five years, including consumer, employment, shareholder and civil rights class actions.

He has a longstanding interest in Constitutional rights and related federal litigation. He served as counsel in three Tennessee class actions suits challenging the conditions under which developmentally disabled children and adults have been confined at state institutions. These cases led Tennessee to revamp its system of delivering services to its developmentally disabled citizens and is building a statewide network of community-based residential and habilitation programs. These Tennessee cases follow Connette's earlier work in the Thomas S. class action, which ended the State of North Carolina's practice of institutionalizing mentally retarded adults on psychiatric wards with mentally ill patients.

As a public service, he has represented indigent North Carolina women seeking coverage for various forms of high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplant procedures. 

Woody has been recognized as one of the North Carolina Legal Elite, the Best Lawyers in America, North Carolina Super Lawyers, and other listings.He is a frequent speaker and teacher at various continuing education programs. He has taught trial practice skills for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and has spoken on a wide range of topics for bar and community groups, including national ERISA conferences at Loyola University School of Law in Chicago; North Carolina and South Carolina Bar Associations; the Association of Trial Lawyers of America; the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers; and the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys. He recently authored an article on depositions that was published in the American Bar Association's Litigation Section journal.

Woody serves on the Board of Directors and as President of Easter Seals/UCP of North Carolina. He recently completed a two-year term as the volunteer Executive Board Chair for the Patient Advocate Foundation. He has been appointed to serve as a member of the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism. In the past, he has been a member and Chair of the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Charlotte. He has a served on the boards of the Mecklenburg Medical Society's Bioethics Resource Group, Legal Services of Southern Piedmont, Carolina Legal Assistance, The Council on Adolescent Pregnancy, Bare Bones Theater Group, and other nonprofit organizations.


When not in the courtroom, you might find Woody surfing, mountain climbing or running. He has surfed in Hawaii, Austrailia, Fiji, Costa Rica, France, and throughout the Caribbean, but his home beach is Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. He has climbed Denali and Mount Rainier. Ten pounds ago, in 1991, he completed the Ironman World Triathalon in Hawaii. He sometimes swims in the Hudson River with the Manhattan Island Foundation, and has completed the 60 kilometer Kepler Challenge in New Zealand.

Woody is married to Jane Harper, a retired state court judge and private mediator.

• Connecticut, 1977
• North Carolina, 1980
• U.S. Federal Court, 1978
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1985

• University of North Carolina School of Law, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1988 J.D., Doctor of Jurisprudence
  • Honors: North Carolina Journal of International Law
    
• Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, 1974 B.A., Bachelor of Arts
  • Honors: Honors College

• American Bar Association
• North Carolina Bar Association Member
• North Carolina Advocates for Justice Member

Edward G. Connette, III

Seriously Outstanding

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