Following law school, Lawlor was appointed as a prosecutor for the State's Attorney Office in New Haven, where he served until his election to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1986.
[3] A few months later in January 2021 Governor Ned Lamont nominated Lawlor to be a member of the state's Police Officer Standards and Training Council.
Prior to that, he was co-chairman of the Labor and Public Employees Committee where he played a major role in the reform of Connecticut's workers compensation program.
[6] The Bill, by giving control over matters administrative and fiscal to a board of laity (in which the Bishop and Parish Priest would act only in an advisory capacity) and because it is specific only to the Roman Catholic Church is seen by many as anti-Catholic.
"[8] In 2003 the New York Times reported Lawlor favored replacing the Virginia facilities with "alternative ways of combating overcrowding, like making it harder to put people back in prison for technical violations of their parole, and argued that transfers should be a last resort.
Thanks to Lawlor's vocal advocacy the bill was co-sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats, passed unanimously in the State Senate,[11] and only 9 out of 151 representatives in the House voted against it.
"[16] Due to the public outcry since the Petit murders, Lawlor agreed to hold hearings[17] on Connecticut's parole system and called on state officials to investigate sites to build new prisons.
This occurred after a parolee with two prior kidnapping convictions carjacked a vehicle in Hartford and was later shot in a confrontation with New York City police.
[22] In testimony before the Judiciary Committee at an emergency meeting convened by Lawlor in October, Department of Corrections Commissioner Teresa Lantz concurred with Governor Rell, testifying that her department does not need nor is requesting additional staff or new prisons[23] Lawlor announced that he disagrees with Rell and Lantz, saying that the state should look into building a new prison, adding beds to existing facilities, or hiring more staff.
Governor Rell reiterated her call for a Three Strikes bill on March 31, 2008, following the kidnapping murder of an elderly New Britain woman committed by a career criminal recently released from Connecticut prison.
Recently, he served as a consultant for the United States Department of Justice assisting in the establishment of an adult probation system in Bulgaria.
Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Andrew McDonald performed the ceremony, which was attended by then-Governor Dannel P. Malloy, Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman and Attorney General George Jepsen.