Norman N. Connolly, at 81; lawyer for the disadvantaged

NORMAN N. CONNOLLY

During a half-century of practicing law, Norman N. Connolly argued cases large and small with equal enthusiasm.

"He was probably the last of the all-purpose attorneys, a man who could argue before the Supreme Judicial Court and the small claims court in the same week and enjoy each victory with the same zeal," said his son Neil of Medfield, a lawyer and a partner in his father's Lexington practice.

The son of Irish immigrants, Mr. Connolly never forgot what it was like to have little money, and often chose cases based on the principles of right and wrong involved, rather than a client's ability to pay.

He died Tuesday in the Liberty Commons skilled care center in Chatham of complications from the treatment of influenza earlier in the year.

Mr. Connolly, 81, had moved to Harwich after living for many years in Lexington.

"He was the type who could speak to kings and cabbages," said Andrew McAleer, a law partner in Connolly and Connolly who had grown up in Lexington near Mr. Connolly's family. McAleer said that to him, Mr. Connolly was "everything from baseball coach to legal mentor."

Mr. Connolly grew up in the South End, where he sold newspapers and Mayor James Michael Curley once gave him a $1 tip.

" 'That was big money back in those days,' as he would say," his son said.

There was even more money to be made peddling carnations and gardenias outside Symphony Hall.

"He used to say that was an easy sale because all you had to do was shame the guy into buying one for his date," his son said with a chuckle.

Before Mr. Connolly had graduated from high school, he joined the Army and had served in the Okinawa campaign as a sharpshooter.

Reluctant to discuss battle experiences, he instead would joke about how he hadn't even begun shaving when he enlisted, telling his son: "They issued me a razor, and I returned it in the same condition they gave it to me."

After the war, he used the GI Bill to attend and graduate from Suffolk University and Suffolk Law School, his son said.

About 51 years ago, Mr. Connolly married Rita Anelons and opened a law practice in Lexington.

A few years later, he took the case of a widow with several children whose husband had died in a car accident.

Because the car was found in a field with nothing nearby, the insurance company refused to pay the widow death benefits, arguing there was no evidence of negligence, Mr. Connolly's son said.

He said his father kept appealing the case all the way up to the SJC, where he secured a ruling in her favor on the basis of presumed negligence.

"Of course, he never charged the widow for his services," his son said. "And as kids, every Christmas Eve we would go to the widow's house with a fruit basket just to see how her kids were doing."

"He really did a lot of pro bono work that nobody knew anything about," McAleer said.

In some ways, Mr. Connolly was more at ease representing the Davids of the legal world who were taking on Goliaths.

"Not to sound too corny, but he always enjoyed the small cases," his son said. "Anyone who was downtrodden and needed a lawyer, he'd take the case. He came from a background of people who didn't have a lawyer to go to. He used to say to me, 'You don't know what it's like to be a poor kid,' and I'd laugh and say, 'I will be if you keep this up.' "

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Connolly leaves a daughter, Cynthia of Wisconsin; another son, Jeffrey of Shirley; a sister, Doris Wolf of Maine; two brothers, John of Virginia and Joseph of New Hampshire; two grandsons; and a granddaughter.

Services have been held.