William Shea
Mr. Shea was born in Augusta, Maine, in 1961, and graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a B.A. in history in 1983. After graduating from the University of Maine School of Law in 1986, he entered active service in the Naval Reserve with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
During approximately five years of Navy service, Shea worked as a prosecutor, defense counsel, and administrative law attorney at legal offices in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Naples, Italy. His administrative law work included adjudicating claims involving lost or damaged personal property and handling administrative separation cases, representing the Navy and individual service members in roughly equal numbers.
In approximately 50 separation cases, he presented evidence and arguments to independent panels deciding whether to retain or discharge service members, advocating for his client based on the facts and applicable regulations.
After passing the Foreign Service exam, Shea joined the Department of State and served for approximately 25 years in Mexico, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Washington, D.C. He served as Consular Chief in Hermosillo, Matamoros, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and held D.C. assignments with the Nuclear Risk Reduction Center and the Bureau of Consular Affairs. He achieved DoS-tested grades of 3/3 in Russian and 4/4 in Spanish.
Following his retirement from the Foreign Service in 2016, after more than 30 years of total service in the Navy and State Department, Shea spent eight years with the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), a U.S. Government-supported NGO. His MFO work involved peacekeeping operations in the Sinai Peninsula in support of the peace between Egypt and Israel. He concluded his service with the MFO in early 2025.
Shea is licensed to practice law in Maine, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia, and is admitted before several federal courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has substantial legal experience with matters arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Shea has been married for more than thirty years. He and his wife have two daughters, one a veterinarian and the other an employee of the Department of Justice.