Michael S. Coffee

Michael Coffee has served as an attorney for multiple federal agencies. He began his career as an attorney advisor for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in 1996, where his responsibilities included advising on matters relating to chemical and biological weapons.

From 1999 to 2020, Mr. Coffee served as an attorney-adviser for the U.S. Department of State, where his responsibilities included representing U.S. interests in the area of private international law (including recognition and enforcement of judgments, international service of process, cross-border evidence requests, authentication and apostilles, international family law, electronic commerce, and maritime transport) and advising on issues relating to arms control and verification, political-military affairs and treaty law and practice. While at the Department of State, Mr. Coffee served as the head of the U.S. delegation to the Diplomatic Session that adopted the 2019 Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters.

Mr. Coffee is currently a trial attorney at the Office of Foreign Litigation of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he advises agencies on foreign litigation risks and works with foreign counsel to represent the United States before foreign tribunals. Mr. Coffee also serves as a professorial lecturer of law at the George Washington University Law School, where he teaches international family law.