Seamus C. Duffy
Partner Emeritus
sduffy@akingump.com
Biography
Seamus retired from the partnership in 2024. He was widely regarded as one of the leading lawyers in the class action bar, representing telecommunications and other companies in class action and other private aggregate and government enforcement litigation nationwide for over 30 years. Known for his thoughtful, strategic approach and his skill in forging settlements, Seamus is now practicing as a mediator.
Representative Work
- Successfully represented the wireless phone industry in decades-long defense of actions claiming that cell phones cause brain cancer and other adverse health effects. In a related action in the 9th Circuit, successfully challenged on First Amendment grounds a first-of-its-kind ordinance that required retailers to publicize the San Francisco government’s opinions regarding the alleged human health effects of mobile phone usage.
- Represented James “Bo” Cochran in a successful federal habeas corpus challenge to his death sentence and in a later homicide retrial in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was acquitted of the murder and set free.
- Defended hundreds of high-exposure class actions in state and federal courts across the nation for the telecommunications and other industries, often acting as national counsel coordinating overlapping proceedings pending simultaneously in different courts.
"He knows when to let a matter go at its own pace and the right moment to strike with strategic arguments."
Chambers USA, 2022
EducationJ.D., Villanova University School of Law, summa cum laude, 1987
B.A., Villanova University, 1984
J.D., Villanova University School of Law, summa cum laude, 1987
B.A., Villanova University, 1984
Bar AdmissionsPennsylvania
Pennsylvania
Recognitions
- The Legal 500 US, General commercial disputes, 2020 and 2022-2023.
- Chambers USA, Litigation: General Commercial, 2019 and 2022-2023.
- Benchmark Litigation, Pennsylvania Local Litigation Star, 2016-2019.
Speeches and Publications
- “Resolving Litigation: Arbitration and Mediation after ‘Concepcion,’” Interview by Rich Lee, CEO of New Era ADR for American Lawyer Media, February 23, 2024.
- “COVID-19 Class Action Filing Trends,” Law Seminars International webinar, June 3, 2020.
- “Privacy Law Including Class Actions Under Various Privacy Statutes,” University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, April 2019.
