| Post: | General Counsel of the Navy |
| Department: | Department of the Navy Office of the Secretary |
| Flag: | US-AssistantSecretaryOfTheNavy-Flag.svg |
| Flagsize: | 120px |
| Flagcaption: | Flag of the General Counsel and the Assistant Secretaries of the Navy |
| Insignia: | Department-of-the-Navy-Office-of-the-General-Counsel-Seal-Plaque-L.jpg |
| Insigniacaption: | Seal of the Office of the General Counsel |
| Incumbent: | Sean Coffey[1] |
| Incumbentsince: | February 16, 2022 |
| Termlength: | No fixed term |
| Style: | The Honorable (formal address in writing) |
| Seat: | The Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia, United States |
| Nominator: | The President with Senate advice and consent |
| Precursor: | Solicitor General of the Navy |
| Succession: | 18th in SecDef succession by seniority of appointment |
| Formation: | 1941 |
| First: | H. Struve Hensel |
| Deputy: | Principal Deputy General Counsel |
| Salary: | Executive Schedule, level IV |
| Reports To: | Secretary of the Navy Under Secretary of the Navy |
The General Counsel of the Department of the Navy is the senior civilian lawyer in the U.S. Department of the Navy and is the senior legal adviser to the Secretary of the Navy. The Office of the General Counsel of the Navy provides legal advice to the Secretary, the Under Secretary of the Navy and the various Assistant Secretaries of the Navy and their staffs. The General Counsel of the Navy is the third highest-ranking civilian office in the Department of the Navy, behind the Secretary and Under Secretary of the Navy.
The General Counsel maintains a close working relationship with the Judge Advocate General of the Navy, the senior uniformed lawyer in the Department of the Navy who performs statutory duties under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The General Counsel manages nearly 650 attorneys worldwide, helps to oversee the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and advises senior Navy and Marine Corps officials on litigation, acquisition, contractual, fiscal, environmental, property, personnel, legislative, ethics, and intelligence law issues.
The first General Counsel of the Navy was appointed in 1941. From 1862 to 1941, essentially the same function was provided by the Solicitor General of the Navy.[2]
| Image | Name | Assumed office | Left office | President appointed by | Secretary served under |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H. Struve Hensel | July 10, 1941 | January 30, 1945 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Frank Knox James Forrestal | |
| W. John Kenney | February 5, 1945 | April 2, 1945 | James Forrestal | ||
| Patrick H. Hodgson | April 3, 1945 | October 31, 1945 | |||
| J. Henry Neale | November 1, 1945 | July 26, 1946 | Harry S. Truman | ||
| William Wemple | July 27, 1946 | August 23, 1946 | |||
| James T. Hill, Jr. | August 24, 1946 | May 15, 1947 | |||
| Hudson B. Cox | May 16, 1947 | April 29, 1949 | James Forrestal John L. Sullivan | ||
| Harold B. Gross | April 30, 1949 | August 30, 1953 | Francis P. Matthews Dan A. Kimball Robert B. Anderson | ||
| F. Trowbridge vom Baur | December 15, 1953 | April 30, 1960 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Robert B. Anderson Charles Thomas Thomas S. Gates, Jr. William B. Franke | |
| May 2, 1960 | May 31, 1971 | William B. Franke John Connally Fred Korth Paul Nitze Paul Robert Ignatius John Chafee | |||
| June 7, 1971 | July 21, 1973 | Richard Nixon | John Chafee John Warner | ||
| August 1, 1973 | April 21, 1977 | John Warner J. William Middendorf | |||
| Togo D. West, Jr. | April 22, 1977 | January 13, 1979 | Jimmy Carter | W. Graham Claytor, Jr. | |
| Coleman Hicks | May 25, 1979 | January 13, 1981 | Edward Hidalgo | ||
| Hugh O'Neill (Acting) | June 1981 | August 24, 1981 | Ronald Reagan | John Lehman | |
| Walter T. Skallerup, Jr. | August 24, 1981 | July 29, 1987 | |||
| Harvey J. Wilcox (Deputy GC) | July 29, 1987 | November 21, 1988 | Jim Webb William L. Ball | ||
| Lawrence L. Lamade | November 22, 1988 | November 21, 1989 | William L. Ball Henry L. Garrett III | ||
| Craig S. King | November 22, 1989 | January 20, 1993 | George H. W. Bush | Henry L. Garrett III Sean O'Keefe | |
| Steven S. Honigman | June 1, 1993 | March 15, 1998 | Bill Clinton | John Howard Dalton | |
| Eugene Angrist (Deputy GC) | March 15, 1998 | September 28, 1998 | |||
| Stephen W. Preston | September 28, 1998 | November 17, 2000 | Richard Danzig | ||
| John E. Sparks (acting) | November 17, 2000 | December 12, 2000 | |||
| William Molzahn (Deputy GC) | December 12, 2000 | July 25, 2001 | Bill Clinton George W. Bush | ||
| Alberto J. Mora | July 25, 2001 | January 1, 2006 | George W. Bush | Gordon R. England | |
| Paul C. Ney, Jr. (acting) | January 2, 2006 | September 25, 2006 | Donald C. Winter | ||
| Frank Jimenez | September 25, 2006 | April 30, 2009 | |||
| Anne M. Brennan (acting) | April 30, 2009 | March 11, 2010 | Barack Obama | Ray Mabus | |
| Paul L. Oostburg Sanz | March 12, 2010 | January 20, 2017 | |||
| Anne M. Brennan (acting) | January 20, 2017 | March 6, 2019 | Donald J Trump | Richard V. Spencer | |
| Garrett L. Ressing (acting) | March 7, 2019 | January 5, 2020 | Richard V. Spencer Thomas B. Modly (acting) | ||
| Robert Sander | January 6, 2020 | January 20, 2021 | Thomas B. Modly (acting) | ||
| Garrett L. Ressing (acting) | January 20, 2021 | February 16, 2022 | Joe Biden | Thomas Harker (acting) Carlos Del Toro | |
| Sean Coffey | February 16, 2022 | incumbent | Carlos Del Toro |