James C. "Jim" McKay (February 24, 1917 – November 23, 2015) was an American trial lawyer. As

Independent Counsel The Office of Special Counsel was an office of the United States Department of Justice established by provisions in the Ethics in Government Act that expired in 1999. The provisions were replaced by Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part ...

from 1987 to 1990, he investigated allegations of illicit lobbying and conflicts of interest during the administration of Ronald Reagan, including investigation of then-sitting

U.S. Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

Edwin Meese Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in official capacities within the Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan pres ...

Early life

McKay was born in South Pasadena, California, and grew up in Washington, D.C. He received a bachelor's degree from the

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

Agricultural College in 1938. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and commanding patrol craft in the Mediterranean Sea. After the war, he received a law degree from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in 1947.

Early legal career

After serving for one year as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, McKay began practicing law at

Covington & Burling Covington & Burling LLP is an American multinational law firm. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the firm advises clients on transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters. In 2021, Vault.com ranked Covington & Burling as ...

in Washington, D.C., where he became a partner in 1957. As a specialist in

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

law, McKay represented clients such as the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

and

Continental Baking The Continental Baking Company was one of the first bakeries to introduce fortified bread. It was the maker of the Twinkie and Wonder Bread. Through a series of acquisitions and mergers it became part of the former Hostess Brands company. Hist ...

Independent Counsel for the Wedtech Investigation

In 1987, the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...

appointed McKay as Independent Counsel to investigate the so-called

Wedtech scandal The Wedtech scandal was an American political scandal involving the award of government contracts. It was first brought to light in 1986. History The Wedtech Corporation was founded in the Bronx, New York by John Mariotta, and originally manufac ...

. The appointment began after the Justice Department requested a special prosecutor to investigate allegations that

Lyn Nofziger Franklyn Curran "Lyn" Nofziger (June 8, 1924 – March 27, 2006) was an American journalist, conservative Republican political consultant and author. He served as press secretary in Ronald Reagan's administration as Governor of California, ...

had violated a prohibition on lobbying for clients such as Wedtech shortly after Nofziger's service on the White House staff of president Ronald Reagan. Under McKay's leadership, the investigation expanded to assess evidence that

—by then the sitting

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

—had intervened on behalf of Wedtech and otherwise violated conflicts of interest standards during Meese's service as

White House Counsel The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Of ...

to President Reagan. In an 814-page report issued in 1988, McKay concluded that Meese had fallen short of ethical standards and likely violated federal conflict-of-interest and tax laws, but McKay declined to request a criminal indictment of Meese because there was no evidence that Meese had acted "for personal gain." The independent counsel prosecuted Nofziger for illegal lobbying; the jury convicted Nofziger but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

Later years

McKay served briefly at the age of 83 in the Professional Responsibility Advisory Office of the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

. The

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

reported that McKay was "one of the oldest Justice Department lawyers ever hired." As a senior counsel associated with Covington & Burling, McKay continued to represent clients on a pro bono basis well beyond his 90th birthday. In his later years, McKay focused particularly on representing veterans seeking benefits. In 2008, the

United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims The United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (in case citations, Vet. App.) is a federal court of record that was established under Article I of the United States Constitution, and is thus referred to as an Article I tribunal (court). ...

presented McKay with the Hart T. Mankin Distinguished Service Award. In 2011, the National Veterans Legal Services Program awarded McKay its Senator Daniel Inouye Award for his "unyielding support for veterans, service members and military families." In 2013,

Eio Books Eio Books was an American-based small press publishing house founded in 2004 in the city of Brattleboro, Vermont. In 2011, it opened a second office in Ross, California. Begun by Sydney Longfellow and Ki Longfellow, it is primarily known for ...

published a novel by McKay based on his World War II experience, entitled ''Billy's War''. McKay died at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in 2015, at the age of 98. His survivors included his wife of 72 years, the former Mary Anne Hunter.Langer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, James C. 1917 births 2015 deaths 20th-century American lawyers Cornell University alumni Lawyers who have represented the United States government People associated with Covington & Burling Special prosecutors United States Navy personnel of World War II