ordham Law’s motto, ‘In the service of others,’ is how I was raised,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly ’89. “We were taught that no matter what type of law you practiced, an attorney is there to be of service to others.”

As a young girl, Donnelly often accompanied her father, Patrick Galligan, a court officer at the Nassau County Courthouse, to work. At her inauguration in January 2022, Donnelly said, “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine [that] one day I would be the district attorney in the same courthouse where my father worked.”

As a Fordham undergraduate (Class of 1986), Donnelly majored in English and minored in philosophy. Inspired by her father’s career, she seriously considered becoming a police officer. However, he would remind her of the positive impact of the attorneys in public service she witnessed as a child at the courthouse. With his encouragement, Donnelly shifted course and applied to law school.

Sadly, Patrick passed away before Anne’s law school acceptance letters rolled in. Donnelly credits her mother, Barbara Galligan, for helping her remain focused on pursuing her legal education despite her own and her family’s profound loss.

“My father’s commitment to service was an inspiration to all of his children,” said Donnelly. Her older sister, Mary, and younger brother, Patrick, also graduates of Fordham University, went on to careers as an FBI agent and U.S. Marine fighter pilot, respectively. Her younger sister, Barbara, became an oncologist/hematologist.

Public service at Fordham Law was a compelling draw to Donnelly: “We paired up with attorneys to work with indigent individuals who couldn’t afford an attorney. Public service was always there.”

As a first-year law student, Donnelly (who attended Fordham University and Fordham Law under her family’s last name, Galligan) felt strongly encouraged by the example and the mentorship of the late Professor Maria L. Marcus, her criminal law teacher and architect of Fordham Law’s Moot Court Program. “She made me realize that women, who were not yet working in the field in large numbers, can go into criminal law successfully,” said Donnelly. “Professor Marcus had a stellar career and argued multiple times before the U.S. Supreme Court. She gave women a great example.”

Donnelly also felt supported by the late Professor Abraham Abramovsky, her “brilliant” constitutional law and constitutional criminal law professor, and then dean John D. Feerick ’61. “[Dean Feerick] would stop students in the hallway and ask, ‘How’s it going?’” she recalled. “If he felt a student was struggling, he’d sit down and say, ‘You can do this.’”

Donnelly also credits retired dean Robert Reilly ’75 for his guidance along her journey. “He steered me, and he stayed in touch,” she said. “All these years later, he was in the second row at my inauguration.”

Upon graduation, Donnelly jumped at the opportunity to work as an assistant district attorney under Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon ’62. “Nassau County was home,” she said. “I wanted to help the community that had given me so much growing up. I stayed and had a wonderful career.”

Prior to her election in November 2021, Donnelly served as a Nassau County prosecutor for 32 years. She rose through the ranks with distinction, spending more than 12 years prosecuting violent felonies. She served as deputy chief of the Economic Crimes Bureau, where she supervised and prosecuted crimes ranging from identity theft to tax fraud. She also found time to serve as president of the Fordham Alumni Chapter for Nassau and Suffolk counties in 2002–2003. And, in 2012, Fordham Law awarded Donnelly its Distinguished Alumna Award.

Donnelly also served as deputy bureau chief of the Organized Crime & Rackets Bureau, prosecuting and investigating organized crime, money laundering, corruption, and cybercrime. She worked closely with each of her predecessors: Dillon, Kathleen Rice, and Madeline Singas ’91, who, in 2021, was appointed associate judge of the New York State Court of Appeals. Singas’s appointment left a vacancy at the district attorney’s office.

A law enforcement official approached Donnelly to run for Nassau County district attorney. “I had no desire to run for office,” said Donnelly. “But this person said to me, ‘You’re what the county needs, and you’re what the office needs. If not you, who?’ Later, when I talked to my husband, I said, ‘I don’t know about this.’ And he [also] said, ‘If not you, who?”

Donnelly’s deep sense of public service, which she attributes to her upbringing and to her education at Fordham Law, kicked in. “It goes right back to ‘in service of others,’” she said. “Do this for others and not for yourself. I have the opportunity to protect and serve the residents of Nassau County. It’s a humbling and incredible job they’ve entrusted me with.”

Today, Donnelly, the fourth-consecutive woman to hold the office, leads one of the largest district attorneys’ offices in the country, with nearly 200 attorneys and a total staff of more than 400.

“One of the most important aspects as a leader is listening to everyone in your organization, and everyone whose lives you are touching,” said Donnelly. “This means listening to my ADAs, the defense bar, and to judges. We have subject matter experts in every aspect of criminal law. It’s important to hear them and let them know they are being heard.”

As a child, Donnelly was taught to lead by example. “People will follow your example more than your words,” she said. “I think I’ve been able to accomplish leadership through example. Everybody in the office knows I’ve worked here for 32 years and dedicated my life’s work in this service.”

Shortly after taking oath, Donnelly initiated a Firearms Suppression and Intelligence Unit to combat an increase in illegal guns in Nassau County. “I knew before I took the oath of office where we needed to concentrate resources,” she said. “Guns, unfortunately, have grown in number in Nassau County.” So far, the initiative has resulted in the seizure of 341 firearms through early December 2022, compared with 241 for the same period in 2021.

Donnelly is also focused on eliminating the growing use of ghost guns, unserialized and untraceable firearms bought online and assembled at home. “Some people may view making these guns as a challenge, but what you’re making at the end of the day is a deadly weapon,” she said. “There’s no way to trace them. When police find a gun like this at the scene of a crime, we don’t know where it came from.”

While the U.S. Justice Department is spearheading efforts to control and regulate online ghost gun sales and sources, “we have to get effective solutions,” said Donnelly. “We’re going to have to see what sticks.”

Donnelly also stepped up DWI (driving while intoxicated) enforcement. “As prosecutors, we see the horrific and direct impact of DWI on people’s lives, and we need law enforcement to be out there,” she said. “We also need to keep educating the public. We have a program in the office called Choices & Consequences concerning drunk driving. We try to get to every high school in the county to give that presentation. It is eye opening.”

Donnelly views the district attorney’s office as critical in educating the public in crime recognition and prevention of all kinds. Along with the Choices & Consequences program, the Nassau County District Attorney’s office runs public education programs on gang prevention and heroin prevention and educates the elderly to recognize and avoid falling prey to “grandparent scams,” among others. Donnelly herself developed the county’s “S.T.O.P. Then Send” internet safety program in 2016. The program, originally aimed at high schools, has expanded to middle and elementary schools.

“It’s not just court cases and criminal trials,” she said. “The district attorney’s office is a well-rounded place for the community to have resources.”

As someone with decades of experience as an ADA, Donnelly takes pride in finding ways to help the attorneys working in her office get what they need to do their jobs well. She has hired expediters to alleviate the administrative burden of discovery requests. She also reinstated a Felony Screening Bureau, which allows ADAs to offer pleas where appropriate. “There are cases we know at the outset that are not going to be felony prosecutions,” she said. “We are trying to screen for felonies, to pare down the hundreds of cases that were previously sent to the ADAs and give them more manageable caseloads and keep cases moving.”

Donnelly and her husband, David Donnelly, who have been married for 31 years, met as Fordham undergraduates. The couple’s three children, Jack, Maura, and Erin, are now young adults. Jack, the couple’s oldest, is on the autism spectrum. Donnelly is tremendously proud of each of her children and believes that parenting a neurodivergent child has positively impacted her work.

“I believe Jack has made me a more empathetic and understanding person,” she said. “As a result, I ask what’s the ‘why’ behind the people I’ve come across in my career. It’s not about punishing the ‘bad’ person. It’s about justice and what’s fair in the situation.”

Donnelly recalled a case in which the defendant, had he pleaded guilty to the charge that normally applied, “would have had a very difficult life.” She met with his attorney, who told her that the defendant, a young man, “had made a mistake; he wanted to grow up and be something.” His attorney asked Donnelly to “take a chance on this one.”

“I said to the defendant outside the courtroom, ‘Don’t make me sorry, don’t ever come back here,” she said. “He said, ‘ADA Donnelly, I promise.’” Four years later, his attorney contacted Donnelly, with a letter from the young man. He had just graduated from law school.

“Having an autistic child helps me look at people in a deeper way,” Donnelly said. She also noted that adults who have disabilities or are neurodiverse can get caught up in the legal system because of their circumstances. “They need to be treated with the same respect, courtesy, and sense of justice as everyone else.”

Donnelly is also proud that many of her lifelong friends and work colleagues are fellow Fordham Law alumni, including her “number two” in the office, Chief Assistant District Attorney Monica Hickey-Martin ’91, and Bureau Chief Maureen McCormack ’92.

Reflecting on her own career, Donnelly strongly urges law students of all backgrounds to consider working as prosecutors. “We do a lot of good,” she said. “We seek justice in our cases and in many ways. We help the community along with public defenders, and we are equals in the world of making sure ‘the right thing gets done.’”

“Do the right thing” was one of her father’s mantras, which he repeated throughout Donnelly’s childhood. Ever her father’s daughter, the phrase stuck with her throughout her life.

“That’s the one thing I would say to any prosecutor, or public defender, or anyone in any field, really,” she said. “Do the right thing, and the right thing will always happen.”