Thomas McKay, III joined Cozen O’Connor as a member in January 1982. He was the office managing partner (OMP) of the Cherry Hill, New Jersey office from 2000 through 2015. He served two terms on the firm's national board of directors and also acted as the interim OMP for the New York office for 1993 – 1994.
In June 2019, Thomas retired from his national defense litigation practice and became senior counsel to the firm. His practice is now limited exclusively to select and limited pro bono representation in New Jersey. He served from 2014 to 2024 as an appointed member of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s District IV Ethics Committee, which oversees attorney ethics investigations in Camden and Gloucester counties. He served as the vice chairman of the committee for 2020 – 2021, and as chairman for 2023 – 2024.
Tom’s litigation practice focused primarily on first party insurance coverage and insurance fraud defense. He has tried dozens of civil jury trials and numerous arbitrations in multiple jurisdictions securing numerous defense verdicts in actions involving six-figure and multi-million dollar claims against his clients. He served as lead counsel on behalf of one of the insurance company defendants in the World Trade Center 9/11 insurance coverage litigation in the Southern District of New York, obtaining a defense verdict thereby saving the client over $260 million.
Tom has lectured on first-party insurance and trial related matters and has served on insurance industry education panels. He co-authored Resolving Property Insurance Claims and Insurance Litigation published by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education. He is a member of the Camden County, New Jersey State and American Bar Associations. Tom held the designation of Certified Civil Trial Attorney by the Supreme Court of New Jersey from 1989 to 2024, when he retired.
Tom earned his bachelor of arts degree from Rutgers University in 1969, where he was a member of the Alpha Chi Rho Fraternity and earned varsity letters as a member of the crew. Tom received his law degree from Temple University School of Law in 1972. From 1972-1973 he served as a law clerk to the Honorable W. Thomas McGann and the Honorable Herman Belopolsky, Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division.
From 1973-1981, Tom served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey where he handled both federal civil cases and criminal prosecutions and tried dozens of major criminal jury trials. He was admitted to practice in New Jersey in 1972. He was also admitted to practice in New York in 1994 (retired admission in 2020). He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, and Sixth Circuits, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Tom has served for more than 30 years as an appointed Class IV member of the Hainesport Township, New Jersey Joint Land Use Board, which oversees zoning appeals and land use development in Hainesport. He currently serves as chairman of that board. From 2012 to 2015 he served as an appointed member of the Rutgers University Foundation board of directors, which oversees the management of the university's foundation. Tom is a past commodore of the Surf City Yacht Club on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Tom is married for over 50 years to Dianne Adele McKay. She was an adjunct professor at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers until her retirement in 2024.