Sean Bigley

Professor Bigley retired from the practice of law in 2023, after a decade of representing U.S. government employees and contractors in national security cases.  An attorney-entrepreneur, he founded his practice immediately after graduating from law school and grew it from a solo operation to a five-attorney partnership with employees in three states.  Professor Bigley’s work spanned the globe and was punctuated by numerous headline-making cases.  Some of the highlights included:

• Representation of U.S. diplomats, intelligence officers, and members of the Armed Forces in security clearance denial and revocation cases
• Representation of executives of multi-million and multi-billion-dollar defense and aerospace companies in personnel security investigations
• Representation of senior White House officials and presidential appointees in both Republican and Democratic Administrations during the background vetting process
• Representation of a government official in a complex case involving the intersection of presidential authority on security clearances and constitutionally-protected speech
• Representation of court-appointed defense counsel accused of mishandling classified information in a major criminal case
• Representation of a senior Secret Service agent in a whistleblower reprisal case, resulting in a significant settlement and the first substantiated reprisal case under 50 U.S.C § 3341(j) in Department of Homeland Security history
• Representation of a Defense Department official in a whistleblower case that resulted in a public rebuke of Navy leadership by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel; a substantiation of the client’s reports of life-threatening vulnerabilities in fighter jets; and rejections of two separate attempts by DoD to revoke the client’s security clearance

Professor Bigley has appeared on or been quoted by The New York Times, Fox News Channel, The Washington Post, Bloomberg News, Newsweek, CBS News, and CNN, among other media outlets.  His writings have appeared in multiple publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The National Interest, FoxNews.com, and the Federalist Society Law Review.  Professor Bigley also authors a regular column for ClearanceJobs.com and co-hosts a radio show on national security heard across the mid-Atlantic region on Federal News Radio.

From 2020-2024, Professor Bigley concurrently served as a presidentially-appointed member of the non-partisan National Security Education Board.  There, he oversaw foreign language and area studies programs in the U.S. intelligence community, diplomatic corps, and armed services, and chaired the Board’s working group on security clearances.  Professor Bigley is a member of the California State Bar. 

Courses Taught:

Entrepreneurial Law Certificate Program, Financial Literacy for Lawyers, and Law Practice Management.