Seamus C. Duffy

Seamus C. Duffy is an active mediator of class actions and other complex commercial litigation, and a Partner Emeritus at Akin. In over 30 years of law firm practice, he concentrated his practice on multi-state consumer class and mass actions and related government enforcement litigation. He also regularly advised domestic and international investors on particular public company mass and class action US-based litigation risk.

A nationally recognized speaker on issues relevant to the defense of class actions, Seamus regularly served as national counsel defending consumer class actions for Fortune 100 companies both in federal multidistrict litigation proceedings and their state court equivalents. He also assisted companies in resisting the improper assertion of state authority over federally regulated aspects of industry, and managed industry efforts to overturn preempted state legislation.

Seamus lectures on trial advocacy programs sponsored by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. A Chambers rated class action litigator many years running, he has been recognized as a “Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation. He joined Drinker Biddle in 1988 following a clerkship in the United States District Court in Philadelphia and later moved to Akin in 2018 and retired there assuming Partner Emeritus status in 2024 to begin his mediation practice.

Education: Villanova University, B.A.; Villanova University School of Law, J.D. summa cum laude