Joe Hennessey is a third-generation District of Columbia and Maryland lawyer who has followed in the footsteps of his grandfather John A. Doolan of Chevy Chase, MD, and his father Joseph F. Hennessey of Washington, DC.
Born and raised in Chevy Chase, DC, Joe attended Lafayette Elementary School, Alice Deal Jr. High School, and Gonzaga College High School.
At Tufts University, Joe double majored in history and philosophy graduating magna cum laude and receiving magno cum honore in thesi honors for his senior thesis that examined the relationship between Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Prior to graduating from Tufts, Joe spent three semesters at the University of Wisconsin as a visiting student in its Center for South Asia focusing on anthropology, history, religion, and Tibetan language. As part of the University of Wisconsin College Year in Nepal Program, Joe lived in Patan, Kathmandu, Jawalakhel, and Chelsa Nepal.
After a year as an administrative assistant to State Senator Lois G. Pines, Joe began a master's degree at The Graduate Institute at St. John's College in Annapolis, MD. With democratic transitions happening around the world, Joe suspended his master's degree to work full time at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, a core-grantee of the National Endowment for Democracy. As a Program Assistant and Assistant to the President, Joe traveled to Pakistan, the Czech and Slovak Republics, and Zambia; edited The New Democratic Frontier; organized numerous press briefings; and served as the press liaison for the International Visitors Program at the 1992 Democratic Convention in New York City.
Joe enrolled in The Catholic University's Columbus School of Law in the fall of 1992 and finished his master's degree at St. John's College in the summer of 1993. Joe was a finalist in the moot court competition held at the Military Court of Appeals (where met and was judged by his future employer The Honorable John A. Terry of the D.C. Court of Appeals) and graduated cum laude. While attending law school, Joe externed as a press office detailee to the NAFTA war room at the White House writing speeches and talking points for Vice President Gore and various Cabinet secretaries.
Joe started his legal career as a clerk for the Honorable John A. Terry in the DC Court of Appeals. Mr. Hennessey gained significant experience in complex, multidistrict litigation as an associate at Morgan Lewis & Bockius providing a key break-through in the Honda Dealership Relations MDL. As an associate at Coudert Brothers, Mr. Hennessey worked on a number of complex business disputes including representing a large U.S. defense contractor in ICC International Court of Arbitration against the Federal Republic of Germany; an American entrepreneur in an ICSID arbitration against Ukraine; and a satellite company in litigious challenges to Ka- and Ku-band licenses before the FCC. Prior to starting his own law practice, Mr. Hennessey gained substantial experience prosecuting class action lawsuits on behalf of independent owner-operator truck drivers at The Cullen Law Firm.
Practicing through Newman, McIntosh & Hennessey, LLP; Beins, Goldberg & Hennessey, LLP; and The Law Office of Joseph Hennessey, LLC, Mr. Hennessey has engaged in increasingly complex matters including representing a UK Telecom in arbitration against an Iowa-based VoIP provider; the removed trustee of two inter-vivos estates; the president of a mortgage lender in defense of breach of fiduciary duty litigation; and, currently, foreign-national subcontractors in disputes with U.S.-based defense contractors. Joe is also working closely with the Department of Justice investigating fraud through various qui tam actions filed under seal in the United States District Court.
