Emanuel graduated from the University of Connecticut (B.A. 1967) and George Washington University Law School (J.D. 1970). During law school he worked part-time as a legislative aide in the Washington, D.C. office of a Connecticut Congressman. Returning to Connecticut, his first position as a new lawyer was manning a storefront office for neighborhood legal services in Bridgeport. There he worked on a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Bridgeport Police Department. Two years later he joined the Connecticut Public Defender's Office, and worked for five years in the trial court in New Haven, Connecticut.
