LAWFUEL – US Legal & Lawyer Announcements – Completes Second Tour of Duty in Bush Administration
(January 2, 2008 Washington, DC) Steptoe & Johnson, a leading international law firm based in Washington, D.C., announces the return to the firm of Shannen W. Coffin. He rejoins the firm after having served most recently as the Counsel to the Vice President of the United States – the chief legal adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney and the general counsel to the Office of the Vice President. Mr. Coffin brings his substantial experience as a senior official of the federal government to the firm’s Litigation Group, where he will focus on Supreme Court and Appellate Practice and growing the firm’s burgeoning Crisis Management Practice.
Mr. Coffin also served previously as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice, responsible for management and oversight of the Civil Division’s Federal Programs Branch, a major litigating component of the Justice Department.
“Shannen Coffin brings extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the federal government to the firm,” said Roger Warin, the firm’s Managing Partner. “From his perch as Counsel to the Vice President, Shannen had a bird’s eye view of the range of critical regulatory, litigation, and investigatory issues facing the federal government on a day-to-day basis.”
Mr. Coffin served as Counsel to the Vice President from 2005 to 2007. In that capacity he handled the full range of legal issues affecting the Vice Presidency and the Office of Vice President (OVP), a small quasi-agency of the federal government. Mr. Coffin provided legal advice to the Vice President and his staff on constitutional, national security, regulatory and related policy issues. He coordinated the Office of Vice President’s response to congressional investigations and to litigation in both trial and appellate courts. He participated in the inter-agency process on behalf of the OVP with respect to a range of federal regulation and legislation.
In his earlier role as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, Mr. Coffin was responsible for managing trial litigation on behalf of the federal government with respect to a broad range of issues, including defense of the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, the Federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, and the President’s termination of the ABM treaty. He personally argued several major government cases, including lawsuits seeking disclosure of documents by the President’s National Energy Policy Development Group, a Taft-Hartley injunction action to reopen West Coast ports after a protracted labor dispute in 2002, and the successful defense of the President’s determination to seize frozen Iraqi assets in the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Mr. Coffin has previously been both a partner and an associate with Steptoe’s Litigation Group. His prior practice concentrated on appellate and Supreme Court litigation. He has advised and represented a range of regulated entities, including energy companies, railroads, insurance companies, and trade associations, in both state and federal litigation.
A 1994 graduate summa cum laude of Georgetown University Law Center, Mr. Coffin previously clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, bar of the Supreme Court of the United States and the majority of bars of the U.S. Courts of Appeals.
About Steptoe & Johnson LLP
With more than 450 attorneys, Steptoe & Johnson LLP provides counsel and representation in a wide range of legal fields. In more than 60 years of practice, the firm has gained a national and international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in guiding business transactions. The firm has offices in Washington, New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Century City, London and Brussels.
