As an attorney, his primary areas of legal practice include government affairs and public policy, international business and financial institution engagements. He served as General Counsel to the Department of the Navy from June 1993 to April 1998. With four-star equivalent rank, he was Chief Legal Officer of the Department and the principal legal advisor to the Secretary of the Navy. He also exercised Secretariat oversight of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and served as the Department's Designated Agency Ethics Officer and Contractor Suspension and Debarment Official.

Honigman was recognized as a leader in acquisition reform, procurement related litigation and the accomplishment of national security objectives in the context of environmental compliance. For his service, he received the Department of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award. He serves as Chairman of the Board of W2E International Corp. and has been a Director of DRS Technologies, Inc. and The Wornick Company. He served as a law clerk to the chief judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He was a member of the Navy Judge Advocate General Corps on active duty from 1973 to 1977 and was a recipient of the Navy Achievement Medal and the Meritorious Unit Citation.

He earned a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. from New York University.