Rebecca Connolly

Email: Rebecca.Connolly@grunskylaw.com

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Practice Areas

• Federal litigation
• Business litigation
• Estate and probate litigation
• Fiduciary representation
• Employment litigation
• Contract negotiations and dispute resolution
• Intellectual property protection strategies
• Company formation
• Civil rights and First Amendment
• Appellate work

Experience

Rebecca Connolly, a shareholder at the firm, has a strong foundation in federal and state court litigation.  From October 2000 through February 2003, she clerked for the Honorable Patricia V. Trumbull, Chief United State Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California, San Jose Branch and for the Honorable William J. Rea, United States District Judge for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, from August 1989 through July 1991.  In addition to her expertise in the Northern and Central Districts of California, Ms. Connolly has tried cases in the Eastern District of California.

Ms. Connolly has represented clients in a number of cases that have garnered local and national attention.  She successfully represented the University of California Regents in an action seeking a preliminary injunction against individuals illegally residing the redwood trees and the parking lot on the Santa Cruz campus. 

Ms. Connolly represented the Ohio Republican Party in an action brought by entertainer Jackson Browne for copyright and trademark infringement regarding a political video created by the Ohio Republican Party during the 2008 presidential campaign.  She obtained a dismissal based upon a Rule 12(b)(2) motion to dismiss challenging personal jurisdiction.

In addition, Ms. Connolly represented the Walnut Avenue Women's Center in a tort action brought by plaintiff for malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and negligence. She prevailed in an anti-SLAPP motion to strike the complaint and obtained an award of attorneys' fees as she established that the Walnut Avenue Women's Center was exercising its right to petition and that the plaintiff could not establish a probability of prevailing on the merits.

Ms. Connolly has extensive experience representing individuals and fiduciaries in complex probate, trust and estate litigation at trial and appellate court levels.  In Dudley v. Tostevin, as Trustee, et al., H032473, Unpublished Decision, Court of Appeal of the State of California, Sixth Appellate District, (2008), Ms. Connolly successfully defended the Trustees of the Lincoln Trust at the trial court and appellate court in defending a petition brought by the lifetime beneficiary seeking to remove and surcharge the trustees. She obtained a dismissal of the beneficiary's petition at the trial court and an order affirming the dismissal in the Court of Appeal.

In another case, Ms. Connolly obtained a dismissal based upon forum non conveniens in an action brought by plaintiffs for deceit, conversion, and constructive trust regarding the receipt intestate distributions on behalf of the defendants that was affirmed in the Court of Appeal. See West-Jensen, et al. v. Wisbrod, et al., H026453, Unpublished Decision, Court of Appeal of the State of California, Sixth Appellate District, (2004).

Education

Ms. Connolly received her J.D. in 1989 from the University of California, Davis School of Law where she graduated in the top fifth of her class.  She was the Editor of the UC Davis Law Review.  She earned a B.A. with High Honors in Social Science at the University of California, Berkeley where she was a volleyball scholarship recipient.

Admissions

Ms. Connolly is admitted to the California Bar, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 

Community Activities and Affiliations

Ms. Connolly is the Treasurer of Santa Cruz County Bar Association and served as its Secretary in 2008.  She is the President of the Women Lawyers of Santa Cruz County.  She has served on the Professional Relations Committee for the Santa Cruz County Bench-Bar from 2004 to the present.  She is a member of the Aptos Chamber of Commerce and the Democratic Women's Club.