Trial Practice
Sean O'Shea is a highly skilled and aggressive trial lawyer
in the areas of both civil and criminal litigation. He is
widely regarded as an expert in cross-examination. Mr. O'Shea
has tried cases ranging from sophisticated business fraud
matters in the criminal context to representing business organizations
and individuals seeking monetary damages in securities fraud
and RICO cases in the commercial context. Mr. O'Shea has regularly
represented clients in securities industry disputes before
panels of the National Association of Securities Dealers and
the New York Stock Exchange.
Mr. O'Shea is frequently retained as lead trial counsel by
corporations and other law firms. He is also associated into
cases going to trial as co-counsel to conduct trial presentations.
He is regularly consulted regarding his expertise in cross-examination
and trial preparation. Mr. O'Shea has tried more than forty-five
federal jury trials in his career.
Mr. O'Shea was retained as trial counsel to Visa U.S.A.,
Inc. in the In re Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust
case which was set for trial in the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of New York in May 2003. The
plaintiffs sought over $100 billion in damages and challenged
Visa's requirement of universal acceptance of its credit and
debit cards as an illegal tying arrangement. Mr. O'Shea's
expertise as an aggressive and highly experienced trial lawyer
made him an invaluable member of the Visa trial team in the
team's preparation for the trial.
Mr. O'Shea also served as lead trial counsel for a large
group of investor plaintiffs in a federal civil RICO trial
in the United States District Court for the Southern District
of New York involving prominent financial institutions which
had engaged in phony tax "straddle" trading with
limited partnerships. The plaintiff group had collectively
invested and lost millions of dollars. Mr. O'Shea was retained
as lead trial counsel and handled all aspects of trial preparation.
After the trial was underway, Mr. O'Shea successfully negotiated
a very favorable monetary settlement.
In 2005, Mr. O'Shea received a multi-million dollar award
for an executive who had conceived and introduced the Refco/Thomas
H. Lee leveraged buyout. The trial, conducted almost entirely
via cross-examination of numerous adverse witnesses who denied
Mr. O'Shea's client's critical role in the billion dollar
deal, resulted in a judgment for Mr. O'Shea's client.
In another vigorously contested trial in 2003, the Department
of Health sought to revoke a physician's license for alleged
abusive behavior toward patients, Mr. O'Shea obtained a verdict
dismissing all charges brought against his client by impeaching
the testimony of every witness testifying in the Department
of Health's case.
Mr. O'Shea developed his skill as a trial lawyer during his
tenure as the Chief of the Business/Securities Fraud Unit
of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of
New York. Mr. O'Shea tried over thirty-five federal jury trials
during his time at the U.S. Attorney's Office, many of which
received significant national and local media attention. One
of the more prominent prosecutions headed by Mr. O'Shea was
the trial of New York lawyer Harvey Myerson. Myerson was charged
with systematically defrauding his clients and partners of
over $3.5 million. The New York Law Journal's account
of the trial stated that "the government's chief prosecutor,
Sean O'Shea, was going to be a 'tough match' for Mr. Myerson."
The article went on to describe Mr. O'Shea as delivering a
"polished 50-minute opening [statement] spelling out
in simple, but starkly memorable terms the government's case,"
and recounted how the opening statement "skillfully unfolded
the story" of how Myerson turned a Park Avenue law firm
into a RICO enterprise. The five week trial ended in a conviction
of Myerson on multiple counts of fraud. New York Law Journal,
3/24/92.
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