Senator William “Mo” Cowan Joins Mintz Levin Affiliate

11/29/13

Senator William “Mo” Cowan Joins Mintz Levin Affiliate


Senator William "Mo" Cowan joins Mintz Levin, this month after concluding his term as Fall 2013 Resident Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics.. ML Strategies LLC handles Mintz Levin's government relations and business advisory wing as an affiliate.

William "Mo" Cowan joins in as the Chief Operating Officer of ML Strategies and as its Senior Vice President. His role in Mintz Levin, principal law firm, would be that of an Of Counsel at the Boston office. "Having had the privilege of working with the highly-skilled and forward-thinking professionals at Mintz Levin and ML Strategies, I'm excited to be taking on this new role, working collaboratively with my former colleagues and friends to provide clients with the very best strategic counsel," said Senator Cowan.

Cowan was an attorney at Mintz Levin from 1997 to 2009. He was in litigation practice and represented commercial clients in matters of financial mismanagement and corporate governance. He also chaired the firm's committee and served on other key committees like the diversity committee and the management recommendations committee. In 2009, he became the chief legal counsel to Governor Deval Patrick. Cowan had stepped in as an interim Senator when the now Secretary of State John Kerry left his seat vacant to join the executive.ML Strategies is lead by its president Stephen Tocco, and former Governor William F. Weld.

However, Cowan is legally prevented from lobbying Congress for two years after leaving the post of a Senator due to a federal statute, and he is barred from lobbying in the state up to February next year due to a state law. Cowan's return had actually been decided in June 2013, after his announcement of resignation from the interim Senator's post in July. However, he continued until the completion of his fellowship at the Harvard Institute of Politics, where he also taught during the time when he was a Resident Fellow.

As an interim Senator, Cowan has served on Massachusetts's Agriculture, Small Business and Commerce Committees and also co-chaired the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force. Under Governor Patrick leadership, Cowan has served in several senior positions including those of holding the jobs of Chief Legal Counsel, Chief of Staff, and Senior Advisor. As Governor Patrick's Chief of Staff, Cowan directed strategic planning, investment and operations. He advised on intergovernmental relations, gubernatorial appointments and oversaw management functions in the Governor's office.

As a Chief Legal Counsel to the Governor from 2009-2011, Cowan managed all legal work of the state administration, and supervised the largest legal practice in Massachusetts.