John J. Conway

Nationally recognized trial attorney John Joseph (J.J.) Conway has legally navigated the complexities of disability, employee health benefits, and ERISA law since 1999. Founding J.J. Conway Law on the principle of helping people secure the employee benefits rightfully owed to them, Conway has recovered more than $100 million for his clients and won landmark class-action lawsuits in favor of families and retirees.

Among his focus areas, Conway is a trailblazer in advocating for children’s healthcare benefits. He successfully litigated the first federal autism benefits healthcare action against an employee benefit plan where the court held that denying medical treatment for autism was “arbitrary and capricious.” He has also been co-lead class action counsel for multiple cases, including the first autism class action settlement that provided a specific course of healthcare treatments for children with autism, two nationwide class actions against insurers for their denial of healthcare benefits for children with autism, and a class action counsel for a nationwide class action of 22,000 military families seeking healthcare treatment for children with autism.

Conway also served as co-lead class action counsel for 9,000 pension plan participants against the City of Detroit’s Pension Fund, its trustees, and advisors seeking protection of the funds themselves which resulted in a multi-million-dollar settlement and major structural reforms concerning the investment of pension monies in unregulated investments. He has been involved in similar class action litigation protecting the pension rights of police, fire, and sheriff deputies from improper financial investments by their pension plan trustees.

Additionally, Conway has represented hundreds of employees, including physicians, attorneys and investment professionals who have been deemed occupationally disabled in securing their monthly disability benefits from their insurance companies and plans.

Conway writes the Conway on Benefits column for the Detroit Legal News and is the author of “Hitting You When You Least Expect It: A Basic Guide to ERISA for Non-ERISA Lawyers,” which is a top-searched piece about employee benefits claims. He also co-authored the Michigan Basic Practice Handbook published by the Institute for Continuing Legal Education.

In addition to being a Best Lawyer® in Employee Benefits (ERISA) law and ERISA Litigation, Conway has also been recognized as a Michigan Super Lawyer, Leading Lawyer and DBusiness Top Lawyer for multiple years. He has been the recipient of multiple other awards throughout his career as well, including the Thomas P. Moore Leadership in Philanthropy Award from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the State Bar of Michigan Champion of Justice Award. He was named a Crain’s Detroit Business Notable Leader in Labor and Employment Law in 2023 and to the Leaders in the Law Class of 2021 by the legal trade publication Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Conway received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Marquette University and obtained his Juris Doctor at the University of Detroit Mercy, where he graduated early and second in his class. He is a member of the American Bar Association, State Bar of Michigan, and State Bar of Arizona. He has also been elected to membership in the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation and the Fellows of the Michigan State Bar Foundation.