Allison Connelly, clinical professor of law, joined the University of Kentucky College of Law faculty in 1996 as the first Director of the College's Legal Clinic. Prior to joining the law school, she spent 13 years as a state public defender providing direct representation, including death penalty representation, to needy individuals at all levels of the criminal justice system. She rose through the ranks to become the first female Kentucky Public Advocate, the head of Kentucky's statewide public defender system, and has more than twelve published appellate decisions to her credit. She received her B.A. degree from the University of Kentucky and her J.D. degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law.  Professor Connelly teaches litigation skills, criminal procedure and criminal trial process, and is the Director of the Kentucky Legal Education Opportunity (KLEO) Summer Institute. She is the founder of the Kentucky Intrastate Mock Trial Competition, and is also the coach of the College’s highly successful trial teams, which include nine nationally ranked trial teams in the last thirteen years. She has received numerous awards including the Chancellor's Outstanding Teaching Award in 2001, the 2006 Chief Justice’s Special Service Award for her distinguished service to the Court of Justice as a legal educator, and the 2008 Citizen-Lawyer Award from the Fayette County Bar Association.  Most recently, she was one of six professors recognized for outstanding teaching and honored with the 2009 UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award. Nominations are made by students for this award, the oldest continuous award to recognize teaching at UK.