Introduction
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Hank Shea joined the Law School in the fall 2006 semester as a Distinguished Senior Fellow with an additional appointment as a Fellow in the Thomas Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions. Shea also serves as Professor of Practice at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He donates his time in these roles.
Shea has taught five courses, Crime & Punishment, White Collar Crime, Investigations, Ethical Leadership in Litigation, and Ethical Leadership in Social Justice. He also assists the Law School to realize the Holloran Center's mission to provide leading-edge interdisciplinary research, curriculum development, and programs that focus on forming students and practicing professionals into accomplished servant leaders in their communities. As part of that effort, Shea founded and is engaging in a unique collaboration with white-collar offenders, some of whom he prosecuted, to make joint ethics presentations about why they committed their crimes, and the consequences and lessons learned from their misconduct.
Shea was one of the country's most effective white-collar crime prosecutors. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) for the District of Minnesota for almost 20 years. Between 1994 and 1998, Shea served as the Chief of his Office's Economic Crime Section. From crimes that Shea prosecuted, the U.S. Attorney's Office collected more than $50 million in restitution, fines, and forfeitures.
As an AUSA, Shea received numerous national awards, including a U.S. Department of Justice Commendation (Environmental Division) in 2003, a U.S. Department of Justice Director's Award in 2002 and 2000, and a U.S. Chief Postal Inspector's Special Award in 2000. In June 2007, Shea received the Minnesota State Bar Association Professional Excellence Award for outstanding efforts to advance the legal profession and the administration of justice.
Shea began his legal career through service in the armed forces. After graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1978, and cum laude with a juris doctor from Harvard Law School in 1981, Shea served for four years, active duty, with the United States Army. He worked as an Assistant to the General Counsel in the U.S. Department of the Army at the Pentagon from 1981-1985. He was awarded the Army's Meritorious Service Medal in 1985. After leaving active duty, Shea continued to serve as an Army Reserve Officer in the Judge Advocate General Corps from 1985-1992.
Prior to rejoining the Justice Department in 1994, Shea was a shareholder with Leonard, Street and Deinard in Minneapolis for two years. Shea also served as Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington D.C. in 1985. Shea also has been a frequent speaker on business and legal ethics and white-collar crime. He has given more than 100 presentations locally and nationally in the last three years.
In addition to his professional achievements, Shea is a former member of the Board of Directors of Youth Frontiers, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has served as the chair of the Board of Directors of Benilde-St. Margaret's School in St. Louis Park, Minnesota from 2004-2005, as part of four years of Board service. Previously, he served for eleven years, from 1987 to 1998, on the Board of the St. Louis Park Emergency Program, a non-profit food shelf. For three of those years, Shea served as Board chair.