Jeffrey Thomas O'Connell (September 29, 1928 – January 6, 2013) was an American legal expert, professor, and attorney.
In 1965, O'Connell and Harvard Law School professor Robert Keeton co-authored the book Basic Protection for the Traffic Victim: A Blueprint for Reforming Automobile Insurance, which created the theoretical underpinnings of no-fault law.
O’Connell began his legal career as a trial lawyer in Boston for the firm Hale and Dorr before turning to higher education.
He served on the faculty at the University of Virginia as the Samuel H. McCoy II Professor of Law from 1980 until his retirement in the spring of 2012.
[3] Prior to joining UVA's faculty, O'Connell taught at the University of Illinois for 16 years.