Steven J. Bonafonte maintains active practice in Connecticut and Washington, D.C.

In addition to serving as the outside general counsel to several entities, Steve provides special counsel regarding privacy and cybersecurity issues; public policy and government relations advocacy; advice on information technology contracts, policies and joint-ventures; counsel regarding ethics, compliance and corporate governance; and conducts complex anti-fraud and corporate internal investigations (several of which have involved matters of public trust and have been covered in the press). He speaks nationally on these issues and regularly interacts with federal and state law enforcement officials and other government entities on cybersecurity and public policy related matters.

Steve is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US). He has served as the General Counsel to both the Connecticut Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and to the Connecticut Chapter of the Society of Information Management (SIM).  He was an original member of the Connecticut State Cybersecurity Committee, the only private sector member of the Connecticut Election Cybersecurity Task Force (2018) and has actively participated in the drafting of Connecticut’s Cybersecurity Action Plan.

Previously, Steve served as a partner and co-chair of the Privacy, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection practice group of a large Connecticut law firm and prior to that as managing corporate counsel and the enterprise privacy and corporate compliance officer at a Fortune 100 financial services company.

In prior legal roles, Steve served as the principal anti-fraud counsel to a major insurance company, developing legal anti-fraud protocols and directing major case investigations and filing of affirmative civil anti-fraud RICO litigation against suspected fraudulent medical providers and other organized ring activity. As in-house counsel, he supervised both internal and outside counsel and has provided general legal counsel to several diverse internal business groups including Information Technology (internal compliance, vendor contracts), Marketing and Communications (legal review and compliance) and Global Sourcing (cross-border data transfer, business continuity). Prior to serving as legal counsel, Steve spent eight years in the Internal Investigations division of a large financial services company conducting global financial crime and other investigations and supervising (prior law enforcement) investigative staff.

Steve was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court as a representative member on the State of Connecticut’s Commission on the Death Penalty, serving from 2001-2003. He also served as Chairman of the Hartford Redevelopment Agency, Chairman of the Hartford Parking Authority, a Commissioner of the Metropolitan District as well as numerous other non-profit and government boards and commissions.  Steve also currently serves as an adjunct law professor (National Security Law) at Quinnipiac University School of Law.

Steve received his B.A. from Gettysburg College and J.D. with honors from Quinnipiac University School of Law.   He is admitted to practice in Connecticut and the District of Columbia.