Eric Jay Conn

Eric J. Conn is a founding partner of Conn Maciel Carey and Chair of the firm’s national OSHA • Workplace Safety Practice Group. His practice focuses exclusively on issues involving occupational safety and health law.

Mr. Conn develops safety and health regulatory strategies for his clients across all industries with a particular emphasis in:

• Advising and representing clients in relation to inspections, investigations and enforcement actions involving the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and state and local regulators.

• Managing the full range of litigation against OSHA, including appeals of citations, negotiations of settlements geared to minimize the impact of enforcement actions on wrongful death and personal injury civil cases, and trials before the OSH Review Commission.

• Representing employers during U.S. Attorney criminal investigations and prosecutions of alleged OSH Act criminal violations.

• Advising employers’ other attorneys in civil cases stemming from workplace accidents about the overlapping OSHA regulatory issues.

• Counseling clients through catastrophic industrial, construction, and manufacturing workplace accidents, including explosions and chemical releases.

• Developing and auditing safety programs and policies.

• Providing workplace safety training and compliance counseling for employers.

Prior to founding Conn Maciel Carey, Mr. Conn was Head of an OSHA practice group that was honored as the “Occupational Health & Safety Law Firm of the Year” by Corporate INTL Magazine in its 2014 Global Awards. In 2013 and 2014, he was named a "Rising Star" by Washington, DC Super Lawyers, and was selected for inclusion in the Washington Post's Top Rated Lawyers list in Washington, DC.

Mr. Conn is a prolific writer on all topics OSHA related. He edited a popular OSHA law blog at another firm and authored the chapter "OSHA Inspections" in the Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook, 2nd ed. (Government Institutes, 2008), and the chapter "Defending Clients Against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Increasingly Severe Enforcement Practices" in Complying with the Occupational Safety and Health Act: Leading Lawyers on Navigating OSHA Investigations and Developing Successful Compliance Strategies (Aspatore, Inside the Minds, 2012).

Mr. Conn is also a popular speaker on OSHA and related legal issues, and is often quoted as a leader in the field. He created the OSHA Defense Report Group on LinkedIn and can be found on twitter as @OSHA_Guy.

Mr. Conn lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife and baby boy.