Biography: Business Crime Defence

Mr Cooney has been a principal of McKool Smith since 2009. Over his career, he has represented individuals and institutions in grand jury and other governmental investigations relating to a wide range of criminal charges, involving securities and insider trading, mail and wire fraud, tax, antitrust, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, government contracting, FDA violations, accounting irregularities and environmental accidents. As a prosecutor and defence counsel, he has tried numerous criminal cases to verdict before federal juries.

Since joining McKool Smith, Mr Cooney's work has included, among other things, representing institutions and an individual in litigation and investigations relating to the Madoff scandal, an investigation of false filings in an antitrust inquiry, a civil antitrust matter for Lockheed, representing hedge fund executives in insider trading probes, representing foreign bankers in OFAC investigations, and several FCPA matters.

Among Mr Cooney's noteworthy trials are his representation of Recognition Equipment Incorporated in its acquittal for alleged bribery of the vice chairman of the US Postal Board of Governors; the estate of Charles Shipman Payson in successfully rebutting a challenge to his will; and Winfield Dunseath in his acquittal at trial for alleged foreign currency fraud.

A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Mr Cooney has acted as chairman of its committee on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. He has taught in the Harvard, Cardozo and Fordham law schools' trial practice programmes, and has lectured on white-collar crime at various professional seminars and at Georgetown University Law Center.

He served as an assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1972 to 1977, becoming chief of the narcotics unit.

Mr Cooney is listed as a leading litigation lawyer in several legal industry publications, including Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Woodward/White's Best Lawyers in America, Benchmark: Litigation, American Lawyer Media's Corporate Counsel: Best Lawyers Annual Guide to Criminal Defense Law and Legal Media Group's Expert Guide to the World's Leading Litigation Lawyers.

Mr Cooney graduated from Indiana University in 1966 and in 1969 received his JD from Duke University School of Law, where he served as note editor of the Duke Law Journal.