planning ahead

When it comes to enforcement proceedings, we know that the greatest victory comes from avoiding them.  We help our clients develop, implement and maintain comprehensive compliance programs designed to avoid, deter and detect fraud and other forms of misconduct.

Training
Our lawyers are available to support our clients’ internal compliance and training programs by providing workshops on a range of topics, including methods of investigation, evidentiary requirements and maintaining confidentiality and privilege in communications.

Due Diligence
Organizations increasingly recognize that due diligence is an important tool with respect to ensuring compliance with anti-corruption and anti-fraud requirements and avoiding reputational issues. We advise clients engaging in acquisitions, either domestically or abroad, on their due diligence procedures, benchmarking them against procedures adopted by a number of other organizations and government entities. We are experienced in drafting agreements with vendors and joint venture partners that ensure that our clients can conduct sufficient ongoing due diligence to detect and avoid reputational issues, such as the vendor’s use of child labor.

Our team of 35 attorneys has extensive experience navigating criminal and regulatory procedures. Collectively, our lawyers have tried hundreds of federal, state, and regulatory cases, conducted internal investigations for corporate clients around the world and, when appropriate, assisted clients with making disclosures to the government.

We have substantive expertise in a variety of areas highly relevant to government enforcement, including:

• Administrative and regulatory investigations
• Anti-corruption, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the U.K. Bribery Act
• Anti-money laundering
• Anti-terrorism
• Criminal antitrust
• Campaign finance investigations
• Consumer Financial Protection Act, including Unfair, Deceptive and Abusive Practices (UDAAP)
• Data privacy and data breach issues, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
• Economic Espionage Act
• Environmental offenses
• Export controls, including CFIUS, EAR, ITAR, NISPOM and OFAC matters  
• Import controls, including customs, Section 301 and Section 337 matters False Claims Act
• Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
• FIRREA and bank fraud
• Federal and state grand jury investigations
• Government contracts and minority set aside programs
• Healthcare fraud
• Political bribery
• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
• Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute violations
• Securities fraud
• Special counsel and congressional investigations
• White collar crime, including mail, wire, and tax fraud

When our clients find themselves under the regulatory microscope, we leverage the solid reputation we have built over the last 100 years to gain the trust and cooperation of skeptical government regulators and law enforcement authorities. Our Group provides our clients, both domestic and foreign, with insight and advice on all aspects of government investigations and the ability to negotiate resolutions efficiently and effectively.

The nuances of how to respond to a government investigation vary depending on the entity involved. We have extensive experience negotiating and working with a large number of government authorities, including: 

• Securities and Exchange Commission 
• Department of Justice 
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission 
• Environmental Protection Agency 
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 
• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority 
• England’s Serious Fraud Office and Financial Services Authority
• State Attorneys General

Parallel Proceedings
It is increasingly common for a government action to involve parallel proceedings in civil, criminal, political or regulatory forums. When these types of related matters arise, our Group explores innovative ways to use these parallel proceedings to our clients’ advantage, such as by using knowledge gained in one dispute to effectively manage risk in another.