Jeremiah E. Lenihan

Mr. Lenihan is Special Counsel in the firm’s Litigation Department, focusing on municipal law litigation, New York Labor Law matters, and defending cases brought under the Child Victims Act. He brings more than 15 years of state and federal trial experience handling complex litigation, where he oversaw hundreds of large-scale investigations and conducted over 20 jury trials and hundreds of bench trials. 

Mr. Lenihan comes to Hurwitz Fine as a former federal and state prosecutor, having most recently worked as an Assistant Chief Counsel with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Buffalo, where he litigated immigration cases involving asylum, fraud, human rights violations, and national security issues. At Homeland Security, Mr. Lenihan served in the DHS’s Human Rights Violator and Fraud Prevention units, where he litigated fraud and abuse cases.

Previously, Mr. Lenihan served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of New York, where he prosecuted cases involving organized crime, high-level narcotics trafficking, racketeering, violent crime, and financial fraud. As lead legal counsel managing these cases in a dynamic and fast-moving environment, he directed and collaborated with expansive and high-performing teams that included local police, FBI, DEA, ATF, etc. to effectively solve complex legal issues. He also served as the Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator, which focused on reducing violent crime in the greater Buffalo area. Mr. Lenihan started his prosecutorial career as an Assistant Prosecutor in Union County, New Jersey, where he handled major gang prosecutions, white-collar crimes, corruption investigations, and violent felonies, including homicide and robbery.  His legal career started as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Joseph P. Donohue, who served as the Presiding Criminal Judge in Union County. 

In addition to his litigation experience, Mr. Lenihan is an adjunct professor at Daemen University in the Paralegal Studies Program, where he teaches undergraduate and post-graduate courses in Legal Research and Writing, Criminal Trials, and Professional Responsibility and Ethics. He previously taught undergraduate students at Montclair State University. He likes to use the popular Adnan Syed Serial podcast to help facilitate interest and discussions. 

Mr. Lenihan earned his law degree from Seton Hall School of Law and received his bachelor’s degree from Quinnipiac University. While at Quinnipiac University, he studied abroad at Bond University in Queensland, Australia. He hopes to get back there for the 2032 Olympics, if not before. 

A native of New Jersey and lifelong Bruce Springsteen fan, Mr. Lenihan and his family now proudly call Buffalo home, where they have embraced the city’s reputation as the city of good neighbors.