Sean Hecker

Sean Hecker is a litigation partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP. He is nationally recognized as a go-to lawyer for corruption and white collar criminal defense, internal investigations and complex civil litigation. He has tried numerous cases to juries in federal and state court and regularly defends individuals and companies in grand jury and regulatory investigations and criminal proceedings involving allegations of securities and commodities fraud, money laundering, tax fraud and criminal antitrust violations. Mr. Hecker has conducted many internal investigations of alleged FCPA violations and regularly advises companies on anti-corruption compliance. He is a member of the firm's Management Committee.

Mr. Hecker is a member of the Criminal Justice Act Panel in the Southern District of New York, where he represents indigent federal criminal defendants. Chambers USA (2010-16) has recognized Mr. Hecker for his “encyclopedic knowledge and practical understanding of how legal issues will work in real-world business.” He is also recommended by The Legal 500 US (2010-16) as “thoughtful, commercial, and very experienced” for white-collar criminal defense and is recognized by Benchmark Litigation (2016) as a “future star.” Mr. Hecker was named a “Client Service All-Star” by BTI Consulting Group (2013).

Mr. Hecker joined Kaplan in 2018, Prior to that he was a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP and a trial lawyer with the Federal Defenders of New York from 2003 to 2006. During that time, he defended individuals charged in the Southern District of New York with a wide range of federal offenses and handled numerous trials and hearings. Mr. Hecker was a litigation associate with Covington & Burling in New York from 1999 to 2003, and was a law clerk for the Hon. John M. Walker, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit from 1998 to 1999, and for the Hon. Sidney H. Stein, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York from 1997 to 1998.

Mr. Hecker received his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1997, where he graduated Order of the Coif and was the Senior Note Editor of the Law Review. He received a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in 1994. He graduated magna cum laude from Columbia College in 1992.

Mr. Hecker is a member of the New York City Bar Association (White Collar Crime Committee) and the ABA (Co-Chair, Sentencing Subcommittee of Criminal Justice Section's White Collar Crime Committee). He is Chairman of the Board of the Office of the Appellate Defender, Chairman of the Board of the Federal Defenders of New York, and serves on the board of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers.