Vincent R. McGuinness, Jr. is president and managing partner of Cozen O’Connor and a member in the Subrogation & Recovery Department. Vince, who was a summer associate with the firm in 1979 and 1980, joined the firm as an associate in the firm's Subrogation Department in 1981. Vince has held multiple leadership positions in the firm including: vice chair of the Subrogation & Recovery Department, administrative managing partner of the firm, and co-director of the firm's Canadian alliance, Cozen O'Connor Subrogation Consultants, Inc., in operation from 2004-2005.
Vince focuses his legal practice on the prosecution of property damages claims and has tried to verdict in excess of 30 subrogation cases throughout various state and federal courts in the United States. He also coordinates the defense of several hundred asbestos claims asserted against various manufacturers and suppliers of asbestos-containing products.
Vince developed the Subrogation and Recovery Department’s many educational seminars and workshops, including the comprehensive 20-month "Life of Subrogation Case"® program that traced the life of a subrogation claim from the moment the loss occurs through trial. He is a frequent lecturer and author in the property insurance subrogation industry, including addressing members of the Loss Executives Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Insurance Committee, for which he served as the editor-in-chief of the inaugural Pennsylvania Insurance Journal, and the Insurance Society of Pennsylvania, for which he received its Distinguished Advocate Award for his lecturing and written contributions.
Vince particularly enjoys the use of film clips to highlight his lectures and seminars. His recent presentations include "Hollywood Presents Expert Witnesses," "When Catastrophe Strikes – How Hollywood Portrays Property Disasters," and "How 'Hollywood Lawyers' Comply with the Code of Ethics."
Vince earned his Bachelor of Arts from Drew University in 1978 and his law degree from Villanova University in 1981, where he was a member of the Villanova Law Review and authored a comment titled “Insurance Law-Asbestos Duty to Indemnity and to Defend,” which was published in volume 26 of the Villanova Law Review.
Vince has been involved in many community and charitable organizations. In 1976, at the age of 18, he was elected to serve on the Morris Plains Board of Education, and was the youngest elected official in the state of New Jersey. He was selected to participate in the inaugural Business on Board program held by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce's Arts & Business Council, which honored him with the Business on Board Member of the Year award for his service as president of the Elfreth's Alley Association and Museum. He has also served on various youth enrichment programs, including SquashSmarts, where he served as president, and as a board member of the Legacy Youth Tennis & Education (formerly the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis & Education) organization. He currently serves on the Corporate Leadership Council for the National Constitution Center. He was selected as president of the Philadelphia Squash Racquets Association and appointed as a board member of the United States Squash Racquets Association, now known as US Squash. Vince is also active in bar association activities. In 2012, he was appointed by the Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association to co-chair the Large Firm Management Committee. He was also appointed by the Chancellor to serve on the Code & Judicial Conduct Task Force and as an investigator for the Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention. He received the Philadelphia Bar Association's Division's Achievement Award from the Young Lawyers section. Vince coordinated the firm’s COVID-19 response, and has been involved in multiple COVID-19 response initiatives locally, nationally and internationally, including: serving on the Philadelphia Bar Association’s COVID Task Force; speaking as a guest lecturer with TenantTalks; participating as a panelist with American Heart Association Community Conversations; and invited guest speaker at the Osaka Japan Bar Association conference on COVID. His leadership in the response to COVID was recognized by the Philadelphia Legal Intelligencer, which selected him for the 2021 Professional Excellence Award, and the Philadelphia Bar Association, that awarded him and the firm the inaugural Champion of the Bar Award.
Vince is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. The fellows is an honorary society of lawyers and judges limited to one percent of the lawyers admitted to practice in the United States.