Investigations - Government & Special
Alston & Bird offers its clients one of the most experienced and complete government investigations teams in the country. Comprised of former federal prosecutors and government attorneys with experience in Washington and throughout the country, our team understands government and prosecution perspectives and can effectively counsel companies seeking to avoid problems before they occur. If problems do arise, our extensive knowledge of how the government builds and prosecutes a case equips us to aggressively protect our clients from potential overreaching by authorities, manage the risks inherent in any investigation, coordinate the defense of parallel criminal, civil and administrative actions, and proactively resolve these matters in an efficient manner.
EXPERIENCE
We represent public and private companies and executives in criminal and civil investigations before the U.S. Department of Justice and its U.S. Attorney’s Offices, as well as other federal agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Customs and Border Patrol, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Food and Drug Administration. We also work on investigations conducted by Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General and state attorneys offices across the country. Our attorneys have tried approximately 200 criminal and civil cases and have hundreds of hours of federal and state grand jury experience. We have conducted numerous internal investigations, and regularly represent clients in congressional investigations, advise clients on a wide variety of compliance issues, and audit ethics and compliance programs to ensure that they meet the requirements of the United States Sentencing Guidelines for Corporations.
We are very experienced in internal and independent investigations, witness interviews, document collection, retention, production and analysis, as well as proactively assembling corroborative evidence in our client’s favor. While we pride ourselves on being first and foremost trial lawyers, our greatest successes are our least publicized ones - those in which a criminal investigation is never commenced, or where it is terminated without any charges being brought. When necessary, however, we will use our expertise to defend our client vigorously and with the highest professional and ethical standards throughout the investigation and trial of the matter.
In addition to our work with clients once a problem has arisen, we are well versed in guiding companies to design compliance programs that prevent, deter and detect misconduct. We offer a broad range of services to help our clients implement or upgrade their ethics and compliance programs, including risk assessments, web based and live training, compliance investigations and independent monitoring.
GOVERNMENT AND REGULATORY EXPERTISE
With over 70 years of combined federal and state prosecution experience, we speak the language of federal and state prosecutors. Our professional manner and the results we have achieved for our clients command the government’s respect. This depth of experience in dealing with authorities and our collaborative approach of teaming with subject matter and regulatory experts allow us to unearth vital information often overlooked by less seasoned attorneys and to present the facts in a thorough and credible manner that can level the playing field between our clients and the authorities. Collectively, we know federal prosecutors in every federal judicial district in the country.
RECOGNITION
Our government investigations attorneys are respected practitioners among their peers and among federal and state law enforcement. During their government service they won distinguished service awards, such as the Department of Justice’s highest award--the Edmund J. Randolph Award, the Attorney General’s Special Commendation Award, Director’s Awards and numerous special awards and commendations from federal and state law enforcement for their excellent work. Our attorneys have experience as presidentially-appointed U.S. Attorneys, Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the first General Counsel to the Department of Homeland Security, Associate Counsel to the President of the United States, federal prosecutor assigned to Iraq’s Regime Crimes Liaison Unit, Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Staff for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, Senior Trial Attorney, Assistant Chief of the Environmental Crimes Section of the United States Department of Justice, and Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the United States. More than two dozen members of the practice served as Assistant United States Attorneys and Department of Justice trial attorneys.
WHY ALSTON & BIRD?
We understand the stress, distractions and difficulties a government investigation can cause and the importance of protecting a company’s brand and an individual’s reputation. Our goal is to proactively resolve the issues and guide our clients through this difficult and often unfamiliar process in a cost effective and efficient manner. When an issue arises, we mobilize quickly, bringing our expertise to bear to work toward a positive resolution. Alston & Bird’s government investigations team stands ready and able to guide and protect both companies and individuals in today’s climate of heightened governmental scrutiny and criminal enforcement.