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Sean Coffey

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Sean Coffey
General Counsel of the Navy
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 16, 2022
PresidentJoe Biden
SecretaryCarlos Del Toro
Preceded byRobert Sander
Personal details
Born
John P. Coffey

1956 (age 67–68)
New York City, U.S.
EducationUnited States Naval Academy (BS)
Georgetown University (JD)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Navy
Years of service1978–2004
Rank Captain

John Patrick "Sean" Coffey is an American attorney, businessman, retired U.S. Navy captain, and political candidate serving as general counsel of the Navy. He led a lawsuit against WorldCom on behalf of investors. In the case, his team recovered over $6 billion from Wall Street banks and responsible parties paid millions of dollars in compensation. Bloomberg Markets dubbed Coffey "Wall Street's New Nemesis." In 2009, Coffey retired from his partnership at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann to seek the Democratic nomination for New York attorney general; he received 16% of the vote in the primary. In 2011, Coffey co-founded BlackRobe Capital Partners, which closed one and a half years later.

Presently as the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Navy and its chief legal officer Coffey leads more than 1,100 attorneys and support staff in 140 offices worldwide.[1] Further in this position, Coffey provides legal advice to the Secretary of the Navy, the Under Secretary of the Navy, the Assistant Secretaries of the Navy and their staffs, and the multiple components of the department, including the Navy and the Marine Corps.[2]

Early life and education

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Born in 1956 to Irish immigrant parents, Coffey is the oldest of seven children raised in the Bronx, Buffalo, and Nassau County, New York.[3] His father John, from County Kerry, was a union carpenter and his mother Mary, from Courtmacsherry, County Cork, was a homemaker. He graduated from Chaminade High School in 1974 and won an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, taking the oath of office as a midshipman at age 17. Graduating from Annapolis with an ocean engineering degree in 1978, Coffey selected flight training. On active duty during the Cold War, he flew as a P-3C Orion mission commander tracking Soviet nuclear submarines.[4]

Coffey attended Georgetown University Law Center at night, graduating in 1987.[5]

While studying at Georgetown Law Coffey was the articles editor of the Georgetown Law Journal, won the Charles A. Keigwin Award (for the best overall academic record after the first year), and was invited to join the Order of the Coif.[6]

While on active duty in the U.S. Navy he served as the personal military assistant to then Vice President George HW Bush.[7] [8]

Career

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After leaving active duty, he served in the U.S. Navy as a reservist. He retired from the Navy in 2004.[9][10]

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In 1987, after resigning from active naval duty, Coffey returned to New York as a litigation associate with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. He was appointed an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York in 1991, and worked with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies prosecuting a variety of crimes. He tried a number of cases to verdict.[4] In 1995, Coffey joined the law firm of Latham & Watkins.

Tenures at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann and Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel

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Three years later Coffey joined the litigation firm of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, which represents many institutional investors. During his eleven years at Bernstein Litowitz, Coffey led teams that recovered billions of dollars for victims of corporate fraud. In the WorldCom securities litigation, a case he took to trial in 2005 as lead attorney for thousands of investors, his team recovered over $6 billion from Wall Street banks and required all outside directors and key wrongdoers to contribute millions of dollars from their personal funds.[11][12] He was selected as one of the National Law Journal's "Top Ten Winning Attorneys" (in the United State) of 2005, and was profiled by the American Lawyer, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg Markets magazine, which dubbed him "Wall Street's New Nemesis."[13][14]

In 2013 Coffey joined Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel as a lawyer and chairman of its complex litigation department. Reuters writing of Coffey at the time said [that] "Coffey is a rarity in the legal sector, where lawyers are often entrenched at big law firms representing either plaintiffs or defendants and rarely move between them". Then Coffey following through on that told the reporters ...."I don't consider myself a plaintiffs' lawyer or defense lawyer, I consider myself an advocate who likes to try cases".[15]

Among the notable clients Coffey has defended and or provided legal advice to are the onetime Yahoo! CEO Marissa Meyer, the former Goldman Sachs trader Fabrice Tourre (aka Fabulous Fab), and Hollywood actor and producer Brad Pitt.[16][17][18][19]

In 2019 he was named to the Irish America Business 100.[20]

2010 New York State attorney general election

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Main article: 2010 New York Attorney General election

In October 2009, Coffey retired from his partnership at Bernstein Litowitz to pursue the Democratic nomination for New York State attorney general.[21][22] He reported that he raised over $1.65 million in the first two months of his campaign.[23] His campaign goals included minimizing political corruption and finding a way to advocate for veterans.[24] The Wall Street Journal cited Coffey as one of the top three contenders for the position. Most of the money he raised was from lawyers.[25]

By August 2010, he was lagging behind competitors in fundraising, and had invested $3 million of his own money in his campaign.[26]

Coffey was defeated by Eric Schneiderman in the Democratic primary, receiving 16% of the vote.

General Counsel of the U.S. Navy

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On February 26, 2022, Coffey was sworn in as the 24th General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Navy.[27]

As the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Navy and its chief legal officer Coffey leads more than 1,100 attorneys and support staff in 140 offices worldwide.[1] Further in this position, Coffey provides legal advice to the Secretary of the Navy, the Under Secretary of the Navy, the Assistant Secretaries of the Navy and their staffs, and the multiple components of the department, to include the Navy and the Marine Corps.[2]

In this role in speaking to the Washington Post in reference to the Navy's exoneration of the African American sailors, the "Port Chicago 50" who mutinied over life and death working conditions with munitions during World War 2 following the Port Chicago disaster, in which he was instrumental, Coffey stated of the decades ago injustice ... [that] "The trial lawyers did not have time to properly prepare for the case,".[28][29]

Further activities

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Coffey was previously an adjunct professor of law at Fordham University.[30] In May 2011, Council for Unity honored Sean and Anne Coffey at their Annual "Champions for Children" dinner.[31] In October 2012, he received the Paul R. Dean award from Georgetown Law School, where he teaches trial practice as an adjunct professor.[32] In November 2011, he was honored by the American Jewish Committee Westchester County, New York Chapter with the Learned Hand Award for achievement and ethics as a lawyer and dedication to human rights.[33] In June 2012, he was honored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center (of Westchester County, New York) for his dedication to human rights and his service to the center as a director.[34]

Coffey has served or serves on the boards of Common Cause New York, Council for Unity, the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center, Greenhope Services for Women, and ThanksUSA.[35][36]

BlackRobe Capital Partners

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In late 2011, Coffey and Timothy Scrantom founded BlackRobe Capital Partners, a commercial claim investor based in New York City.[37] The firm shut down one and a half years later, in early 2013.[38][39]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Commissioning 2023". Columbia School of General Studies. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "John P. Coffey".
  3. ^ Confessore, Nicholas (September 13, 2010). "In Race for Attorney General, Democrats Make Final Pitch". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP Welcomes John P. ("Sean") Coffey As Partner. " PR Newswire December 7, 1998, ABI/INFORM Dateline.
  5. ^ LLP, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann (October 15, 2009). "Sean Coffey to Explore Potential Run for New York State Attorney General". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release).
  6. ^ "Richard Turnley III et al. v. Banc of America Investment Services et al" (PDF). Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann.
  7. ^ "John P. "Sean" Coffey". Irish America Magazine. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  8. ^ "Common Cause New York Board Member John "Sean" Coffey Nominated for General Counsel of the Department of the Navy". CommonCause. August 11, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  9. ^ "John P. Coffey".
  10. ^ "John P. "Sean" Coffey". www.irishamerica.com.
  11. ^ Grow, Brian (May 16, 2005). "The Kings Of Class Actions". BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on March 22, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  12. ^ "WorldCom Directors Settle Lawsuit". Los Angeles Times. January 6, 2005.
  13. ^ Rovella, David. "Wall Street's New Nemesis." Bloomberg Markets September 2005.
  14. ^ "In Democratic race, Coffey cites courtroom results, public service". The Irish Echo. July 10, 2010. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  15. ^ Raymond, Nate; Frankel, Alison (November 13, 2013). "Lawyer for Goldman's Tourre to join Kramer Levin". Reuters.
  16. ^ Protess, Ben; Craig, Susanne; de la Merced, Michael J. (July 15, 2023). "Arsenal of Legal Firepower Masses Around Tourre Trial". The New York Times. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  17. ^ Thomas, David (August 11, 2021). "White House taps longtime litigator Sean Coffey for U.S. Navy GC". Reuters. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  18. ^ Elstein, Aaron (July 9, 2023). "In 'Fab' case, Wall Street nemesis switches sides". Crain↔'s New York Business. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  19. ^ Mike Scarcella (August 23, 2021). "Kramer Levin partner pay shown in ethics doc from Navy GC pick". Archived from the original on August 24, 2021.
  20. ^ "Sean Coffey".
  21. ^ Confessore, Nicholas (September 6, 2010). "An Attorney General Bid Sets a Rare Focus Upstate". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  22. ^ "Sean Coffey to Explore Potential Run for New York State Attorney General" (Press release). October 15, 2009. Archived from the original on June 28, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2010 – via Marketwired.
  23. ^ Benjamin, Elizabeth. "$1.65 M For Would-Be AG Coffey". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on January 21, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  24. ^ "Wall Street Nemesis Coffey Pledges to Fight Corruption as AG." Niagara Falls Politics. February 2, 2010. [1] Archived July 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ Kelly, Kate (January 23, 2010). "Sizing Up Wall Street Sheriffs". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on July 30, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
  26. ^ "Sean Coffey to Sink More Cash into Attorney General Campaign". DNAinfo New York. Archived from the original on November 10, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  27. ^ "John P. Coffey". www.navy.mil.
  28. ^ Brown, DeNeen (July 17, 2024). "Navy exonerates Black sailors charged in Port Chicago disaster 80 years ago". Retrieved September 2, 2024.
  29. ^ Padmore, Yulie (July 30, 2024). "Port Chicago Weekend 2024: Officials, Advocates Deliver Key Messages Following Exoneration". Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  30. ^ ""John 'Sean' Coffey ."". Lawdragon. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  31. ^ Council for Unity. "2011 Champions for Children Awards Dinner" [2] Archived April 14, 2013, at archive.today.
  32. ^ "Georgetown Law School. "Alumni to be honored with Paul Dean Award"".
  33. ^ "Judge Learned Hand Award Dinner - November 29th - AJC Westchester/Fairfield Regional Office". www.ajc.org. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  34. ^ "The Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center". www.holocausteducationctr.org. Archived from the original on September 26, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
  35. ^ "Common Cause New York Board Member John "Sean" Coffey Nominated for General Counsel of the Department of the Navy". commoncause.org. August 11, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
  36. ^ "John P. (Sean) Coffey Biography". pli.edu. Practicing Law Institute. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
  37. ^ O'Connell, Vanessa (October 3, 2011). "Funds Spring Up to Invest in High-Stakes Litigation". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  38. ^ Smith, Jennifer (May 14, 2013). "Litigation Finance Firm BlackRobe Shuts Down". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  39. ^ Jasper, Millie (February 17, 2022). "HHREC Board of Directors Member Appointed to Serve as General Counsel Department of U.S. Navy". hhrecny.org. Holocaust and Human Right Education Center. Retrieved September 11, 2024.

Notes

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  • Heller, Emily. "John P. Coffey and Max Berger: A good cop/bad cop dynamic scores big. " National Law Journal. June 20, 2005.
  • Longstreth, Andrew. "Breaking the Banks." The American Lawyer Dec 2005.
  • Longstreth, Andrew. "Taking Citi to School." The American Lawyer Dec 2004.
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