Hogan & Hartson
jckeeney@hhlaw.com

PHONE
+1.202.637.5750

FAX
+1.202.637.5910

Export to WordPrint PageEmail Page
John C. Keeney, Jr.
Partner, Washington, D.C.

Noted as a "powerhouse attorney" by The Wall Street Journal, Jack Keeney is a trial lawyer who concentrates on complex litigation involving securities, fiduciary duties, legal malpractice, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and election statutes.

Jack, President of the D.C. Bar (2004-2005), is Co-chair of the firm’s Ethics Committee and taught legal ethics at American University’s Washington College of Law from 2000 to 2002. He was recently appointed Chair of the Standing Committee on Election Law of the American Bar Association.

During his tenure as the partner in charge of the firm’s pro bono Community Services Department from 1989-93, the firm received the 1991 ABA Pro Bono Publico Award for the outstanding law firm pro bono program.

Jack is a former member of the ABA House of Delegates, former Co-chair of the National Lawyers Council of the Democratic National Committee, the Adjudication Committee of the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, the John Minor Wisdom Awards Subcommittee of the ABA Section of Litigation, and a former member of the D.C. Bar Board of Governors and its Pro Bono Committee. He has served as the Chair of the Legal Needs Subcommittee of the D.C. Bar Public Service Activities Committee, a member of the D.C. Bar Reproductive Cancer Task Force, and the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Initiative Working Group.

Jack was counsel to the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Committee from 1989-1991, and was a hearing officer to the Standing Committee on Credentials of the 1992 and 1996 Democratic National Conventions. He was national counsel for delegate selection for the Babbitt for President campaign in 1987-1988 and co-counsel for the Mondale campaign in litigating credentials challenges in 1984.

Jack joined Hogan & Hartson following a clerkship with The Honorable Alexander Harvey, II of the U.S. District Court for Maryland.

Representative Experience
Obtained dismissals of all consolidated contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and securities actions against an officer and director in In re USOP Securities Litigation, 326 F. Supp. 2d 68 (D.D.C. 2004); 251 F. Supp. 2d 77 (D.D.C. 2003).

Tried Moore Business Forms Inc. v. Cordant Holdings, C.A. No. 13911 (Del. Chancery Ct. 1997) involving exercise of a compulsory repurchase agreement with a preferred shareholder and the right of its nominee on the board of directors to be present during those deliberations.

Represented numerous corporate directors, officers, attorneys, and employees in SEC depositions and interviews, including a former Janus employee in the combined SEC/DOJ Task Force investigation of Ken Lay at Enron; a discharged officer in a joint SEC/DOJ investigation; and a former bank director in grand jury testimony in a combined SEC/DOJ investigation.

Investigated and advised numerous corporations, including post-violation training for officers and employees, on the civil and criminal provisions of the FCPA.

Advised law firms and individual lawyers on legal ethical issues and obtained dismissals of three legal malpractice suits against D.C. firms.

With others, tried and won a jury verdict ultimately totaling over $12 million for minority shareholders in Sandberg v. First American Bank of Virginia, 979 F.2d 332 (4th Cir. 1992).

With others, tried and won a verdict in a school desegregation case for the NAACP in Vaughns v. Board of Education of Prince George's County, Maryland, 574 F.Supp. 1280 (D. Md. 1983).

Tried and won a preliminary injunction for a television network against its affiliate’s breach of a network affiliation agreement in Telemundo v. UHF Channel 59, 24 Med. L. Rptr. 1305 (Col. 1995).

With others, tried and won a verdict in a business judgment rule case for a board of directors in Treco, Inc. v. Land of Lincoln Savings and Loan Ass'n, 572 F.Supp. 1455 (N.D. Ill. 1983).

Lead trial counsel for the Democratic National Committee in the successful trial of a Voting Rights Act lawsuit in Hawthorne v. Democratic Party, No. 89-T-381-S (M.D. Ala.), in LaRouche v. Fowler, 152 F.3d 974 (D.C. Cir. 1998), dismissed, 77 F. Supp. 2d 80 (D.D.C. 1999) (three-judge court), aff’d, 529 U.S. 1035 (2000), and in Concerned Women for America v. DNC, No. 96-1928 (D.D.C. dismissed Oct. 24, 1996).

Lead trial counsel for 15 female Mexican migrant workers in Arreola v. Philip J. Harrington & Son, Civil No. L 91-1934 (D. Md. July 21, 1993 judgment for unpaid minimum wages and civil rights violations).

Obtained dismissals of libel lawsuits in POC v. Clinton for President, 194 F.3d 139 (D.C. Cir. 1999), and in Konanykhine v. Izvestia, cert. denied, 534 U.S. 890 (2001).

Represented principal witnesses in Iran-Contra and two other Independent Counsel investigations, the Congressional investigation of leaks about Anita Hill, and the investigation of 1996 campaign finance.

Since 1984, represented individuals, corporations, presidential campaigns, a national political party and its officials, and numerous PACs before the Federal Election Commission in enforcement matters and advisory opinion requests.

Published Works
March 2008 "Felon Disenfranchisement." America Votes! A Guide to Modern Election Law and Voting Rights, ABA Section of State and Local Government Law

PRACTICES/INDUSTRIES
Litigation
Voting Rights and Election Litigation
Class Actions
Professional Liability
Corporate and Securities Litigation
Political Law, Government Ethics, and Lobbying Compliance
AREAS OF FOCUS
  • Complex Federal Litigation
  • Securities and Derivative Litigation
  • Federal Election Law
EDUCATION
J.D., cum laude, Harvard Law School, 1976 A.B., summa cum laude, University of Notre Dame, 1973
MEMBERSHIPS
  • Past President, District of Columbia Bar
  • Member, Advisory Committee on Procedures of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
  • Member, Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers
  • Chair, Standing Committee on Election Law, American Bar Association
  • Director, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs 
AWARDS/RANKINGS
  • Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers, 2007-2008 
  • Washingtonian, Top Lawyer, 2007
  • Who’s Who in America
  • Who's Who in American Law
  • Who's Who in the World
BAR ADMISSIONS District of Columbia Maryland
COURT ADMISSIONS U.S. Supreme Court U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit