Conn MacEvilly is a senior advisor in Covington’s Public Policy practice group. He is a barrister with over 25 years’ experience in the public and private sectors in the UK and other European jurisdictions. A member of Covington’s Global Problem Solving team, Conn helps solve clients’ most complex challenges, combining legal work with sophisticated policy strategies.

His practice encompasses UK policy and regulation, focusing on technology and financial services regulation. As a Barrister, Conn has also advised clients in the energy, technology, genomics, and manufacturing sectors. Formerly a United Kingdom Government European Fast Streamer, Conn worked at the European Commission Legal Service in Brussels and for the UK’s Department for Trade and Industry, where he drafted some of the early legislation on e-commerce.

Conn was recently the Chief of Staff of the UK government’s COVID-19 Task Force, co-ordinating the response to the COVID-19 emergency across all government departments in direct liaison with the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, English local authorities, Public Health England and the National Health Service, industry and other nations in Europe.

Prior to that, he was in private practice at the Bar in Lincoln’s Inn, London, specialising in commercial litigation in high-value cases relating to oil and gas, insurance and insolvency. He was ranked as a leading litigator in Legal 500, described as “clearly on top of the law in his specialist areas; courteous and assertive without being aggressive, which gains the respect of his peers and the bench.”

Conn is called to the Bars of Ireland, England & Wales and Gibraltar, and has lived and studied in Germany and France.