Brian E. O'Connor was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received a BA, magna cum laude, in government and politics from St. John's University and a JD from St. John's University School of Law, where he served as the publications editor of the Law Review. After beginning his legal career with a clerkship on the New York Court of Appeals, he became a partner in a prominent Wall Street law firm, where he specialized in complex commercial litigation for thirty-eight years before retiring as the firm's General Counsel in 2017. He lives on Eaton's Neck in Northport, New York, with his wife Helen and his two Portuguese water dogs, Maya and Nelson.