Prior to her appointment as a United States District Judge, from 2004 until her appointment, Judge Dooley was a judge of the Superior Court for the State of Connecticut.  Prior to her appointment to the state court bench by Governor M. Jodi Rell, between 1992 and 2004, Judge Dooley was an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Connecticut.  While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she held various supervisory positions, to include, Counsel to the United States Attorney.  Judge Dooley began her legal career at Whitman and Ransom, in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Judge Dooley graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in psychology in 1985.  She graduated from the University of Connecticut, School of Law, cum laude, in 1988.