Practice Leader: Barry Wm. Levine
Many law firms boast about their white-collar defense and investigation practices, yet few firms have the breadth and depth of experience offered by Dickstein Shapiro LLP. The core of the White Collar Criminal Defense and Investigations Practice is comprised of 20 partners, many of whom are former prosecutors, U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) litigators, and congressional lawyers who have held senior positions with United States Attorneys’ Offices, the SEC, prominent local prosecutors, and congressional investigatory committees. The firm’s attorneys have tried hundreds of cases and conducted countless internal investigations in the United States and abroad. Dickstein Shapiro’s decades-long experience in the most complicated and high-profile cases spans Watergate and Iran-Contra to Whitewater; Enron to Tyco and Worldcom; and the Wall Street cases involving research analysts, late-trading, and market-timing.
The firm’s clients include corporations, board committees, financial institutions - as well as officers, directors, and executives in those organizations - facing high-risk federal, state, or local criminal or regulatory investigations; congressional inquiries; government agency investigations; and complex internal investigations. Dickstein Shapiro uses its experience and skill to design and implement strategies to resolve these sensitive matters discreetly and without public scrutiny, while helping firm clients maintain business stability. When quiet resolution is not possible, however, firm attorneys are aggressive advocates and have an enviable record of litigation success at trial.
The firm’s versatile team has experience handling a broad range of issues for its clients, including: securities fraud (insider trading, stock manipulation, and ‘40 Act investigations); accounting fraud; bank fraud; tax fraud; public corruption; money laundering; healthcare fraud; energy (price manipulation and FERC investigations); government contracts (false statements and claims, defective pricing, product substitution, Truth in Negotiations, and qui tam); Foreign Corrupt Practices Act allegations; and state attorneys general investigations (antitrust, consumer fraud, lead paint, and tobacco).
In today’s world, a seemingly simple problem quickly can devolve into a multipronged challenge, as federal regulators, aggressive state regulators, and the plaintiff’s bar determine that the issues you face should be theirs to investigate. Taking advantage of the firm’s experience with federal and state prosecutors, regulators, and attorneys general, as well as its extensive capabilities in complex multiparty litigation, Dickstein Shapiro routinely guides clients through the maze of concurrent parallel proceedings, including civil and administrative enforcement actions, derivative and private class actions, and suspension and debarment proceedings.
Firm attorneys also appreciate that today’s regulatory environment requires businesses to be particularly sensitive to corporate compliance and strong corporate governance practices. Dickstein Shapiro closely works with its clients to develop policies and procedures designed to detect and resolve issues before they become problems.