Biography
John P. "Sean" Coffey is Managing Director of BlackRobe Capital Partners, LLC, a private equity fund manager focused on investments in high-stakes commercial claims. Sean co-founded BlackRobe last year after building a track record as one of America's most successful trial lawyers. He has served as co-managing partner of the preeminent plaintiffs' litigation firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, litigation partner at the international law firm Latham & Watkins LLP, and an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
An experienced courtroom advocate, Sean tried cases as a federal prosecutor, plaintiff's attorney, and defense attorney. While at Bernstein Litowitz, he led teams that recovered almost $10 billion for securities investors, and served as lead trial counsel in two of the largest civil cases ever to go to trial, the WorldCom Securities Litigation and the Baptist Foundation of Arizona audit malpractice case. Sean's role in the WorldCom litigation was the subject of extensive media coverage, including two American Lawyer articles ("Taking Citi to School" (2004) and "Breaking the Banks" (2005)). He was named one of the country's "top ten" winning trial attorneys by the National Law Journal in 2005, profiled as "Wall Street's New Nemesis" by Bloomberg Markets magazine in 2005, and repeatedly selected as one of Lawdragon's top American lawyers and Chambers USA's leading lawyers. He retired from Bernstein Litowitz to run unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for New York Attorney General in 2010.
A retired Navy Captain, Sean's military career included assignments as the personal assistant to Vice President George H.W. Bush and commanding officer of a reserve P-3C Orion squadron and the reserve component of the Enterprise carrier battle group staff. His military decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Command-at-Sea badge, Joint Service Commendation Medal, and Navy Pistol Expert Medal.
Sean graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a B.S. in Ocean Engineering, with merit, and received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. Sean is a member of the the American Bar Association's Corporate Laws Committee, the Federal Bar Council, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, New York State Bar Association, and the Georgetown Law Board of Visitors. Sean also serves on the boards of Common Cause New York, Council for Unity, the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center, and Greenhope Services for Women.