Cozen O'Connor

Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: Michael J. Heller

President & Managing Partner: Vincent R. McGuinness

Number of lawyers: 825

Offices: Washington, DC, New York, NY, Chicago, IL, Boston, MA, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Monica, CA, Wilmington, DE, Houston and Dallas, TX, Seattle, WA, Atlanta, GA, Minneapolis, MN, Cherry Hill, NJ, Boca Raton, Miami, and West Palm Beach, FL, Boulder and Denver, CO, Charlotte, NC, Richmond, VA, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and West Conshohocken, PA, Las Vegas, NV, and Salt Lake City, UT, and internationally in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Canada and London, UK.

Firm Overview: 

Established in 1970, Cozen O’Connor has more than 825 attorneys practicing internationally in 31 cities across North America. We are a full-service firm with practices in litigation, business law, and government relations, and our attorneys have experience operating in all sectors of the economy.

Main Areas of Practice:  

Ancillary Business Units: 

The firm has several ancillary services to serve our clients in a variety of offerings, ranging from government strategies to safety and security and regulatory compliance strategies. These companies include Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, Healy+ Group, COSECURE, HomeBase, National Subrogation Services, ConnectBridge, and CODISCOVR.

Antitrust: 

This practice provides antitrust legal services, including litigation, government investigations, corporate transactions, and regulatory counseling. Attorneys respond to civil and criminal investigations and litigation initiated by the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general, foreign competition authorities, and litigation initiated by private parties.

Bankruptcy & Insolvency: 

Firm attorneys represent clients in a broad range of commercial litigation and transactional matters, emphasizing domestic and international insolvency, creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, restructuring, and reorganization.

Cannabis: 

The cannabis industry faces a dizzying array of shifting laws, policies, and practical challenges. To meet this need, the firm developed an interdisciplinary team of lawyers and government affairs professionals to guide clients through the labyrinthine landscape of financing, manufacturing, processing, distributing, marketing, and retail selling of marijuana under applicable state laws.

Class Actions: 

Firm attorneys have an outstanding record of success defending some of the most significant class actions in courts across the country, including matters focusing on individual privacy issues in an array of environments, including employment, consumer interactions and tracking, and technology products and services.

Commercial Litigation: 

The firm’s litigation department includes trial-tested lawyers who regularly prosecute and defend a diverse caseload of construction litigation, complex corporate and partnership disputes, product liability and mass torts, securities and financial services litigation, trusts and estates litigation, e-discovery disputes, environmental claims, class action defense, and real estate matters.

Construction:  

The firm's construction group has the depth and geographical reach to handle clients’ most complex problems in the United States and abroad. Cozen O’Connor’s attorneys have been in the field and on work sites for more than 40 years, so their legal advice is grounded in that direct, practical experience. Attorneys anticipate problems, recommend creative solutions, and structure practical agreements.

Corporate: 

The firm’s corporate attorneys counsel clients on matters related to organization, structure, and governance, provide advice on matters arising in day-to-day operations, assist in negotiating and documenting financing and business expansion transactions, and provide guidance in mergers and acquisitions, and divestitures.

Emerging Business & Venture Capital: 

For emerging companies, corporate attorneys serve as critical partners at every stage in the life cycle of a growing business. Early-stage companies confront rapid and constant change at a point when their corporate structure is often still nascent. Attorneys work with emerging leaders to establish viable internal structures and support day-to-day operations.

Environmental: 

The firm has decades of experience in environmental litigation and enforcement and regulatory and due diligence. The team is well versed in all major federal and state environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, CERCLA and SARA, Endangered Species Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Government Contracts & Bid Protests: 

Attorneys and government relations professionals assist clients in all phases of contracting with the federal government, including preparing proposals and bids; conducting negotiations with contracting agencies; and assessing the effectiveness of relevant statutes or actions by federal agencies on contract performance.

Health Care & Life Sciences: 

The firm’s lawyers provide varied regulatory and litigation services, including Medicare, Medicaid, and other third-party reimbursement issues; fraud and abuse and Federal False Claims Act issues; compliance program development and confidentiality; and other HIPAA-related compliance issues.

Immigration Policy & Strategy: 

The firm advises domestic and international corporations and businesses and their employees in seeking temporary visa options and permanent residence in the United States. This multidisciplinary approach allows the firm to provide comprehensive, high-quality representation as it develops strategies applicable to all aspects of immigration and nationality law.

Institutional Response Group: 

The firm’s attorneys have decades of experience conducting high-profile investigations into sexual and gender-based harassment and violence, child abuse, and other forms of misconduct. Attorneys represent colleges, universities, K-12 educational and other child-serving institutions, corporations, hospitals, religious institutions, and not-for-profit organizations in connection with policy, compliance, investigations, and governance issues.

Insurance Coverage Claims/Litigation: 

The firm provides clients with sound and sophisticated advice on the rights and obligations of the respective parties to insurance contracts and assists them in resolving claims in accordance with the contract provisions and the law.

Intellectual Property & IP Litigation: 

The IP practice works with clients to develop and implement protection and enforcement strategies for patents, trademarks, trade names, domain names, service marks, trade dress, copyrights, trade secrets, rights of publicity and privacy, and franchising.

International: 

Cozen O’Connor advises foreign clients with interests in the United States, U.S.-based clients with interests abroad, and foreign and domestic partners in cross-border trade and joint ventures. Clients include foreign corporations, international subsidiaries, foreign and domestic governments, venture funds and emerging businesses, investment funds, tax-exempt organizations, corporate boards, executives, and entrepreneurs.

Labor & Employment/Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation:

The firm’s attorneys counsel and litigate matters including personnel policies and business transactions to enhance productivity, comply with legal and immigration requirements and avoid litigation, as well as qualified and non-qualified plans, retirement plans, executive compensation programs, health and welfare benefits, and ERISA.

Nonprofit & Tax-Exempt Organizations: 

Cozen O’Connor’s attorneys represent charities, hospitals and hospital systems, religious organizations, educational institutions, trusts, foundations, trade associations, and others in general legal and tax matters and matters unique to their status as nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations.

Private Client Services: 

Cozen O’Connor’s attorneys assist clients in all areas relating to wealth management, wealth transfer, philanthropic giving, and business succession planning. They counsel high net worth families and individuals in the United States and abroad and assist successful business owners and entrepreneurs. The firm provides advice on trusts, estates, tax strategies, business strategies, and estate disputes.

Product Liability: 

The firm’s attorneys have been defending Fortune 500 companies in significant product liability litigation for more than three decades. The firm defends single-action matters, class actions, mass torts, and multidistrict litigation and responds to congressional, regulatory, and criminal investigations.

Public & Project Finance: 

The firm has one of the most active practices in the mid-Atlantic region. Its team is experienced in tax-exempt and taxable financings, debt restructurings, off-balance sheet financings, securitizations, and municipal swaps.

Real Estate: 

This group handles complex commercial acquisitions, dispositions and development, partnerships and joint ventures, leasing, sale/leasebacks, senior debt and mezzanine debt financings, loan restructuring and workouts, and land use and zoning.

State Attorneys General: 

These attorneys represent clients on solutions to business matters brought by state attorneys general across the country in AG investigations and litigation (including multi-state and federal co-enforcement actions).

Subrogation & Recovery: 

The firm’s attorneys handle the nation’s most property damage and other first-party subrogation claims. These claims arise from casualties such as fires, explosions, structural collapses, equipment failures, gas and water leaks, and natural disasters.

Tax:  

Assisting businesses and individuals with minimizing the consequences of federal, state, and local taxes, attorneys have experience in mergers and acquisitions, financings, purchase or sale of businesses, negotiation, and structuring joint ventures, client representations, and real estate matters.

Technology, Privacy & Data Security: 

Over the last decade, our firm has built a multidisciplinary team to help clients safeguard their digital data without sacrificing their business goals. Attorneys work with our clients to protect their brands and reputations through compliance management, transactional issues, and data breach response and litigation.

Transportation & Trade: 

This team offers broad experience in the transportation sector, including corporate, commercial, transactional, regulatory, litigation, public and private contracting, and financing. Its work regularly involves cargo and passenger transportation, towage, dredging, terminals, offshore energy, fisheries, and marine construction.

Utility & Energy: 

The firm’s lawyers guide clients through complex regulatory approvals by state public utility commissions and other federal and state regulatory agencies in the electricity, gas, water, real estate development, and manufacturing sectors.

White Collar Defense & Investigations: 

Comprising a highly skilled team of former federal and state prosecutors and veteran defense lawyers who can navigate government investigations, implement compliance programs, and fight zealously for the firm’s clients in pre-trial negotiations with prosecutors, criminal jury trials, and any necessary appeals.