Doug Connors has maintained an unwavering focus on insurance defense throughout his career, starting as a claims adjuster, later working as an in-house lawyer at a major insurance carrier and currently practicing with Wilson Elser's litigation team. Doug has experience defending transportation liability, product liability, professional liability, employment liability, workers' compensation and general liability claims. He also has defended insurance companies in extracontractual and bad faith claims brought by both insureds and third parties.

Given his background working in the insurance industry, Doug is sensitive to the pressure that adjusters are under to resolve claims while limiting their company's exposure. He takes a balanced approach to resolving litigation, providing a vigorous defense without engaging in unnecessary and costly activities in order to best position the case for reasonable settlement or successful trial.

Doug has successfully tried many cases to verdict in Connecticut state and federal courts and New York Supreme Court, and has handled Connecticut state court and federal court appeals as well as administrative appeals before the Compensation Review Board.

Areas of Focus

Insurance Defense
Doug manages workers' compensation claims for an insurance carrier client, expanding the firm's initial role as settlement counsel on the client's existing claims to encompass the defense of new claims. He supervises a team of associates in defending workers' compensation matters for this and other clients, and also trains and mentors younger associates in workers' compensation, automobile and premises litigation matters. For another insurance carrier client, Doug and his team manage and defend personal injury, premises liability, product liability, dram shop and other general liability claims.

Prior to joining Wilson Elser, Doug worked in-house for a major insurance company, defending its insureds in individual claims as well as working with local counsel around the country to coordinate the company's defense in bad faith claims seeking punitive damages. This experience gave him lasting insight into mitigating the many pitfalls inherent in insurance claims handling and litigation.

Doug frequently has provided training and conducted seminars for claims professionals and clients in the areas of workers' compensation and bad faith avoidance, as well as Connecticut procedural matters.

    Education

    • University of Connecticut School of Law (J.D., 1995)
    • Stony Brook University (B.S., 1985)

    Bar Admissions

    • Connecticut
    • New York

    Court Admissions

    • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
    • U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut
    • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

    Professional Affiliations

    • Connecticut Bar Association
    • Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association

    Awards & Honors

    Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America®, 2026

Douglas M. Connors

Wilson Elser National Team in Hot Pursuit of Phone Records Secures an Appellate Division Affirmance

Patrick Lawless (Partner-New York, NY), Brian Del Gatto (Partner-NY/CT/AZ/WA), Douglas Connors (Partner-Stamford, CT) and Andrea Strain (Of Counsel-Stamford, CT) teamed to defeat an appeal before the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department to recover damages for personal injuries from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County in an alleged slip-and-fall incident. The plaintiff offered contradictory statements, first in the emergency room stating that he was talking on his cell phone at the time of the accident, and later at his deposition, denying he was talking on his cell phone when the accident occurred. In defense of our major Canadian aerospace client and our nationally represented insurer, the team moved, inter alia, to compel the production of the plaintiff’s cell phone records, and the Supreme Court directed the plaintiff to produce the records within 30 days, resulting in this from the Court: “Here, the willful and contumacious character of the plaintiff’s conduct can be inferred from his repeated failure to respond to the defendants’ demands for discovery of his cell phone records, his failure to meaningfully and timely comply with the Supreme Court’s order directing such disclosure, and his failure to provide any reasonable excuse for these failures … Even after the conditional order of dismissal was issued, which again directed the plaintiff to produce his cell phone records, the plaintiff still did not comply with the court’s directive. Accordingly, the court properly, in effect, upon re-argument, adhered to its prior determination conditionally granting that branch of the defendants’ motion, which was pursuant to CPLR 3126(3) to dismiss the complaint.”

With a consistent settlement demand of $10 million or more throughout the case, the clients were delighted with the outcome.
 

Brian Del Gatto, Douglas M. Connors and Patrick J. Lawless

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