Richard D. Catenacci

Richard D. Catenacci is a commercial litigation lawyer and partner at Connell Foley LLP, with more than forty years of courtroom and appellate experience. He focuses on federal trial practice, complex casualty litigation, product liability, tort law, and major business lawsuits and disputes. His record includes over 100 jury and bench trials in state and federal courts. He has argued more than 200 appeals, demonstrating extensive experience with demanding legal questions. He represents corporations, insurers, financial institutions, and individuals in high-stakes proceedings nationwide with focused advocacy.

Richard earned a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1962 and a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1965. During law school, he served on the Notre Dame Law Review’s Board of Editors and worked as a case editor. He later clerked for US District Judge Robert Shaw in the District of New Jersey. From 1966 through 1968, he served as an Assistant US Attorney before joining Connell Foley LLP and developing litigation experience in New Jersey.

Richard includes antitrust, environmental, insurance, pension, asbestos, toxic tort, banking, and estate disputes involving substantial financial exposure in his representative work. He supervised national asbestos and toxic tort litigation for Bethlehem Steel and represented major insurers in thousands of injury lawsuits. He has handled complex class actions, large commercial claims, landfill litigation, and appeals involving multimillion-dollar judgments. His national honors include Best Lawyers recognition for appellate practice and commercial litigation from 2005 through 2026, along with prior New Jersey Super Lawyers selections.

Richard D. Catenacci is admitted in New Jersey, the U.S. Supreme Court, and several federal trial and appellate courts. He was among the earliest lawyers certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Civil Trial Attorney. His leadership includes service as Connell Foley’s managing partner and chairman. He has chaired five American Bar Association Litigation Section committees and held federal, state, and county bar roles. He taught commercial law at Seton Hall Law School for more than ten years.

Law Office Affiliations

• Managing Partner, Connell Foley LLP
• Life Fellow, American Bar Foundation
• Member, Notre Dame Law Association
• Member, American Bar Association, Litigation Section
• Vice President, Federal Bar Association (1988-1992)
• Member, New Jersey State Bar Association, Judicial Selection
• Member, Essex County Bar Association

Licensed State

• New Jersey

Education

• University of Notre Dame Law School
  Juris Doctor (JD)
• University of Notre Dame
  Bachelor of Arts (BA)