Rose Connors grew up in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. She graduated from Mount St. Mary's College with a degree in American history in 1978 and from the Duke University School of Law in 1984. A trial attorney for eighteen years, she is admitted to practice in both Washington State and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is a member of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She lives in Chatham with her husband, Admiralty attorney David Farrell, and their sons, Dave and Sam.