We focus on the defense of white collar criminal and regulatory enforcement investigations and related litigation. We also conduct internal corporate investigations, advising clients on strategies to respond to, contest, and resolve regulatory inquiries and allegations of misconduct.

We defend clients in a broad range of industries in investigations conducted by the US Department of Justice, the SEC and other federal and state authorities. We frequently work with colleagues from across Freshfields' global network to represent clients in simultaneous investigations conducted by the authorities of multiple countries. These investigations involve allegations of foreign bribery, accounting fraud, insider trading and the off-label promotion of pharmaceutical products. We assist clients in structuring their internal compliance programs and advise public companies and new issuers on disclosure, corporate governance, and related issues. We frequently advise audit committees and special board committees on sensitive issues including those concerning employee or executive conduct.

Current representative client mandates include:

  • Representation of a major US financial institution in investigations by multiple regulators of allegedly improper procedures employed to process residential mortgage foreclosures.
  • Representation of a Big Four accounting firm in connection with parallel regulatory investigations of firm's audit of Lehman Brothers.
  • Representation of a major pharmaceutical company in a regulatory investigation of its licensing and marketing practices in multiple countries.
  • Representation of a global manufacturing client in an internal investigation of allegations of bribery in South Asia; simultaneous review of the client's global antibribery compliance program.
  • National counsel to Pfizer in connection with resolving investigation of sales and marketing practices conducted by attorneys general of thirty-five US states.
  • Representation of former CEO of the world's largest wealth management business in criminal and SEC investigations arising from an alleged scheme to assist thousands of US taxpayers in evading income tax obligations.

Our white collar defense partners all have extensive backgrounds as government prosecutors and as white collar defense counsel. Please see below for more information regarding the partners in our white collar defense practice.

  • Aaron R. Marcu, Partner, New York
  • Aaron has more than twenty years of experience as a white-collar defense lawyer. Prior to going into private practice, he served for seven years as a federal prosecutor, investigating and trying complex criminal cases in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. In addition to his work as a trial lawyer, Aaron served as Chief of Appeals, Chief of Major Crimes and as the Associate United States Attorney. He is the global head of Freshfields' Financial Institutions Litigation Practice, and has handled investigations for key institutions in the financial services and health care sectors, including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Société Générale, JPMorgan Chase, Bear Stearns, UnitedHealth, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Goodyear, and Adelphia. More on Aaron R. Marcu
  • Timothy Coleman, Partner, Washington, DC
  • Tim leads the white collar practice in Washington, D.C., and has over ten years of experience representing clients in fraud and corruption investigations. Prior to entering private practice, he prosecuted the Adelphia and Datek cases as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York and oversaw the Enron prosecutions while at Main Justice in Washington, where he was also a member of the President's Corporate Fraud Task Force. More on Timothy Coleman
  • Benito Romano, Partner, New York
  • Benito joined Freshfields after over twenty years of experience in white collar defense and service as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. His recent matters include investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice into alleged price fixing in the airline industry and by the Securities and Exchange Commission into alleged options backdating, fraud in the auctions rate market and the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. More on Benito Romano
  • Adam B. Siegel, Partner, New York
  • Adam is the co-head of Freshfields' Global Investigations Practice, has over ten years of experience in white collar defense, and previously served as the Chief Appellate Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He has defended clients in a broad range of investigations involving, among other charges, allegations of violations of the FCPA, insider trading, stock options backdating, and the off-label promotion of pharmaceutical products. More on Adam B. Siegel