Collin O’Connor Udell’s appellate practice focuses on U.S. Supreme Court litigation and on complex or novel issues arising in other federal appeals. Ms. Udell has taken a central role in 30 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, some of which have been widely acknowledged as among the most important cases of the last few terms, involving bankruptcy, statutory construction, the First Amendment, the Commerce Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, jurisdiction, arbitration, civil rights, procedure, taxation, and insurance.
In addition to her Supreme Court experience, Ms. Udell has also represented clients in a wide variety of cases in the federal courts of appeal, including matters involving statutory construction, financial services, bankruptcy, securities litigation, labor and employment, intellectual property, administrative law, environmental litigation, complex commercial litigation, and insurance.
Ms. Udell also has significant clerkship experience, having clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit for the Honorable Bruce M. Selya (1999-2000); the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for the Honorable José A. Cabranes (1998); and the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut for the Honorable Robert N. Chatigny (1998-1999; career law clerk, 2004-2006). She has also taught Criminal Law at the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Ms. Udell is on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Pro Bono Panel and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Pro Bono List. She is also a member of the Rules Committee of the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers, a Division of the ABA Judicial Division’s Appellate Judges Conference. In addition, she is a member of the Supreme Court Historical Society, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the Federal Practice Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, and she is on the Board of Directors of the University of Connecticut School of Law Alumni Association.
Education
University of Connecticut School of Law, J.D., 1998, Summa cum laude, Editor-in-chief of the Connecticut Law Review, recipient of the William F. Starr Fellowship Award for Outstanding Scholarship, the University of Connecticut Law School Foundation Award for Exceptional Achievement in Scholarship, two West Publishing Company Awards for Outstanding Overall Scholastic Achievement, two West Publishing Company Corpus Juris Secundum Awards in Contracts and Criminal Law, and four CALI Excellence for the Future Awards in Contracts, Criminal Law, Jurisprudence, and Statutory Interpretation.
Yale Law School, LL.M., 2001
Court Admissions
Supreme Court of the United States
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
United States District Court for the District of Connecticut
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
Bar Admissions/Qualifications
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Publications and Lectures
- “Dissecting Stern V. Marshall,” Law360 (July 7, 2011) (with Eric Brunstad and Matthew Delude)
- "Parading the Saurian Tail: Projection, Jung, and the Law," Arizona Law Review, Vol. 42 (2002)
- "Miller v. Albright: Plenary Power, Equal Protection, and the Rights of an Alien Love Child," Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, Vol. 12 (1998), cited in Herrera-Inirio v. I.N.S., 208 F.3d 299 (1st Cir. 2000)
- "Intimate Association: Resurrecting a Hybrid Right," Texas Journal of Women and Law, Vol. 7 (1998), cited in Adler v. Pataki, 185 F.3d 35 (2d Cir. 1999)
- "Stalking the Wild Lacuna: Communication, Cognition and Contingency," Journal of Law and Inequality, Vol. 16 (1998)
- "Same-Sex Sexual Harassment: Cutting the Gordian Knot," Cardozo Women's Law Journal, Vol. 4 (1998)
- "Signaling a New Direction in Gender Classification Scrutiny: United States v. Virginia," Connecticut Law Review, Vol. 29 (1996)