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John Halloran has successfully handled precedent-setting cases in federal and state courts throughout the nation for 30 years.
A lifelong New Yorker, John began his litigation career with the New York City law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher where he developed an expertise in complex civil litigation and international disputes. At trial and on appeal, he prevailed in cases involving RICO, antitrust, contract law, federal securities law, accountants’ liability, trusts and estates, and a series of cross-border banking disputes arising from the global fraud committed by the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). He also served as assigned counsel to indigent criminal defendants by appointment of the Court of Appeals and Appellate Division, First Department.
Building upon his experience at Willkie Farr, John was appointed by the Attorney General to serve as a trial attorney in the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. (Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch). In that capacity, he successfully represented Cabinet officers and other Executive Branch officials in civil cases across the country. For example, John was lead counsel for the United States in civil litigation arising from the largest bank failure in the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia; he successfully secured equitable relief for the United States through successive, same-day oral arguments in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (Richmond), and thereafter recovered the largest civil judgment under the anti-fraud statute, FIRREA. John was lead trial counsel for Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin in the first civil penalty action brought under the Bank Secrecy Act (a key anti-money laundering statute); he recovered a substantial judgment and other systemic relief for the government. He successfully defended FBI Director Louis Freeh in a civil case challenging the Director’s actions designed to assure gender equality in the composition of SWAT teams. John received several commendations and awards for his work at the Justice Department including, on three occasions, the Attorney General’s Special Achievement Award for Sustained Superior Performance of Duty.
Upon his return to private practice in New York City, John has focused on representing litigants in civil litigation in the United States. Over the past decade, he has represented foreign states and governmental entities in connection with cross-border disputes. He has served as lead appellate counsel in the federal courts in that litigation, which has reached the United States Supreme Court on three occasions. John has an active practice in dispute avoidance and resolution, and regularly serves as a moot court judge in high-stakes appeals in the federal and state appellate courts.
Mr. Halloran has Statewide experience in the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government. In the 1970s and early 1980s, he served as a legislative assistant to the Albany-based Assembly Ethics and Guidance Committee (Chair, Edward Griffith, East New York & Brownsville), where he drafted ethics opinions, policy directives and legislation leading to laws in myriad areas, including an amendment to the State Constitution enlarging the jurisdiction of the New York Court of Appeals. In 1984 and 1985, John served as a law clerk to Senior Associate Judge Matthew J. Jasen of the New York Court of Appeals, with chambers in Buffalo and Albany. From 2008 to 2013, he served as pro bono Deputy Counsel to the New York State Commission on Judicial Nomination, a New York State public agency charged with the function of evaluating and nominating candidates for the New York Court of Appeals. Most recently, Mr. Halloran has been appointed to serve as Special Referee in cases brought by the Grievance Committees for the Ninth Judicial District (Hudson Valley) and Tenth Judicial District (Long Island); Special Master for the Mandatory Civil Appeals Mediation Program of the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department; and Roster Mediator for the Commercial Division, Supreme Court (Westchester County).
For many years, John has been active in various public service and bar initiatives on a Statewide basis. By appointment of the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, Mr. Halloran is a member of the Character & Fitness Committee for the Ninth Judicial District (Hudson Valley). In 2015, John was appointed to serve on the Constitutional Convention Task Force of the New York City Bar Association. He is a longstanding and active member of the Board of Trustees of The Historical Society of the New York Courts, which has been established to document and preserve the history of the people and events that have shaped New York’s jurisprudence. Since the 1980s, John has served on committees of the New York State Bar Association and New York City Bar Association, particularly in the areas of government affairs and ethics. John is a Sustaining Member of the Federal Bar Council (Westchester Committee), an organization of lawyers who practice in federal courts within the Second Circuit. John Halloran has been named to the annual list of the IRISH LEGAL 100, a compilation of distinguished legal professionals in the United States.