OUR TEAM

William C. Cagney

Retired

New Brunswick, NJ
120 Albany Street Plaza
6th Floor
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
P 732.448.2535 P 732.448.2535 | F 732.846.8877
NEWSROOM

Experience

Partner Emeritus

William C. Cagney litigates complex financial, commercial, and fraud cases, on trial and appeal, for businesses and financial institutions, as well as owners, shareholders, officers and directors, and partners. His extensive experience includes commercial disputes, white-collar criminal defense, RICO cases, shareholder and partnership disputes, and employment litigation. Mr. Cagney also advises clients on corporate compliance programs and government investigations of tax, banking, government contracting, health care, and securities fraud offenses.

Client success stories include:

  • obtaining summary judgment dismissing coverage lawsuit against an insurer;
  • obtaining a no-cause jury verdict for a top-ranked tennis pro accused of a bad faith contract breach;
  • successful defending an international casino corporation officer accused by regulators of monetary violations;
  • securing dismissal of a federal indictment against an insurance company president for loan fraud;
  • obtaining a no-cause jury verdict, and appellate affirmance, for a national retail chain sued for disability discrimination;
  • procuring settlement of a nationwide class action against a bank for consumer fraud;
  • obtaining an arbitration award dismissing a combined race/gender discrimination claim against a business; and
  • achieving a jury acquittal on entrapment grounds in favor of an international money manager.

Mr. Cagney has served as Assistant United States Attorney and Deputy Chief, Special Prosecutions Division, in the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, receiving the Attorney General's Special Achievement Award and a U.S. Department of Justice Special Letter of Commendation from the Director of the F.B.I. He has also served on the Profession of Law Faculty of Columbia University School of Law, teaching professional responsibility and legal ethics. His prior appointments include Member, New Jersey Supreme Court Board on Attorney Certification, Certified Civil and Criminal Trial Attorney, and Chair of Criminal Certification Committee. He is currently a Supreme Court appointee to the Office of Attorney Ethics Project. Mr. Cagney has also served on the boards of several non-profit, educational and religious institutions.

Mr. Cagney attended Regis High School in New York City.

Recognition

  • SuperLawyers New York Metro 2018 to 2022 - Business Litigation
  • SuperLawyers New York Metro - 2006 to 2017 - Business Litigation, Employment Litigation and Criminal Defense: White Collar
  • SuperLawyers New Jersey - 2010 to 2017 - Business Litigation, Employment & Labor, Criminal Defense: White Collar

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Practices

Education

  • J.D., Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, Columbia University School of Law, 1976
  • A.B., magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Boston College, 1972

Admissions

  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • United States Supreme Court