Editorial: Business Crime in Illinois

01 July 2008

Jenner & Block LLP has a national reputation for business crime defence work and its CV includes representing several officers of one of the nation's largest telecommunications companies in the successful defence of SEC and related DoJ investigations. Lawyers from the firm have also conducted an internal investigation relating to accounting issues at a publicly held biotechnology company. The firm is in the enviable position of having three practitioners on our list, one of whom is the most highly nominated practitioner in the research: Anton Valukas is chairman of the firm and chair of the white-collar criminal defense and counselling practice. Described to researchers as "the leader" and "very prominent", he served as United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois from 1985 to 1989. Valukas is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) and has been lead counsel in a wide variety of matters relating to government contracts and issues of fraud and compliance. Charles Sklarsky is co-chair of the firm's white-collar criminal defence and counselling practice. Prior to joining Jenner & Block, Sklarsky was assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and was described to researchers as "one of the big names" and a "high-quality guy". He is also a Fellow of ACTL. Sklarsky is joined by Thomas Sullivan, who was also applauded for his skills in this area and was noted as "a prominent name in the market".

Winston & Strawn LLP also has three entries in this chapter. Bradley Lerman is "certainly one of the very best" according to a fellow nominee and served as an assistant US attorney in Chicago for eight years. Lerman is currently representing former Illinois governor George Ryan on public corruption charges, including racketeering, mail fraud and income tax fraud. He has also represented McDonald's Corporation in obesity class-action litigation; Philip Morris USA in smoking and health litigation; and a variety of pharmaceutical companies in connection with health-care regulation and compliance matters. Former US attorney Dan Webb is one of the white-collar Bar's most famous names and is "very well respected and well liked" among his peers. Webb has represented the New York Stock Exchange in connection with an internal investigation over compensation to the former chairman Richard Grasso, and is currently representing the NYSE in subsequent litigation. Webb served as lead counsel in the six-month jury trial of George Ryan. Howard Pearl is also no stranger to high-profile matters, having represented former Congressman Dan Rostenkowski in his criminal case. He has been appointed by the board of directors of the Chicago Transit Authority on various occasions to conduct internal investigations, including the public investigation of its former president.

McDermott Will & Emery LLP is another full-service firm with three entries. Chairman of the white-collar criminal defence practice group, David Rosenbloom is the firm's most highly nominated practitioner and was praised by sources as "top-flight". Rosenbloom served as deputy chief of the general crimes division in the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois. His practice focuses on the defence of health-care providers and manufacturers, as well as representing clients in a wide variety of other industries, including securities, insurance, manufacturing and energy. Jeffrey Stone is head of the firm's trial department and another former US attorney - serving as deputy chief of the criminal receiving and appellate division. A fellow of the ACTL, Stone is very "highly regarded". Joshua Buchman served for nine years as an assistant US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Stetler and Duffy Ltd is a specialised firm with an "unrivalled reputation" in the field. Both founding principals feature in this edition. David Stetler is a former assistant US attorney and fellow of the ACTL. He is a "skilled advocate" and also has experience conducting internal corporate investigations, prior to and following the commencement of governmental investigations. Stetler spent a large portion of 2007 representing a firm that joint-ventured the construction of the "Big Dig" in Boston, which involved state and federal criminal investigations. Stetler worked with George Pierson, then general counsel, to obtain a global resolution for the state and federal disputes. Joseph Duffy is another former assistant US attorney and in private practice has represented clients in matters involving health care, antitrust, defence procurement, foreign corrupt practices, securities, environmental, public corruption, and taxation. The final entry for the firm is Mark Rotert, who joined them in 2007 with 17 years of public service under his belt. He is a former assistant US attorney and his practice focuses on representing individuals confronted by the government.

Cotsirilos Tighe & Streicker Ltd is another white-collar criminal defence firm that is held in high regard. James Streicker is a Fellow of the ACTL and boasts 10 years in government, serving as an assistant attorney general for the state of Illinois, deputy defender in the Illinois Appellate Defender's Office, and as assistant US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. In private practice, he has worked in a number of areas including antitrust, health-care fraud and abuse, government fraud, securities fraud, environmental, taxation, customs, gaming, internal corporate investigations and SEC investigations and enforcement actions. Theodore Poulos has "come into his own", according to one source, who was impressed by his practice and his "courtroom skills". Poulos has represented individuals and companies involved in a wide array of federal grand jury investigations and criminal prosecutions. He is also a former assistant US attorney.

Mayer Brown LLP is home to Vincent Connelly, a "leader" in the eyes of his competitors. Recent engagements have seen him appear in defence of a hospital in a jury trial against claims of civil fraud and RICO conspiracy and provide lead representation in an 11-week criminal health-care fraud trial in which the defendants were acquitted of all charges. Tyrone Fahner also performed extremely well in the research, recommended by a number of sources. A former attorney general of Illinois, Fahner has handled both multi-district and class-action litigation across an array of areas.

Royal Martin from Martin Brown & Sullivan Ltd is regarded as "very strong for tax-related work" and a "true leader". He is co-author of the Illinois Continuing Legal Education Handbook on Criminal Tax Fraud and a Fellow of the ACTL. Michael Monico of Monico Pavich & Spevack is known for having represented the only lawyer acquitted in the Operation Greylord prosecutions in Chicago and more recently has represented a pharmaceutical company executive in a Medicare fraud prosecution in Boston federal court.

Ronald Safer is Schiff Hardin LLP's managing partner and the "real deal" according to one source. Safer is a former assistant US attorney and led the defence team for Mark Kipnis, a co-defendant in the high-profile United States v Conrad Black et al, winning a not-guilty verdict on eight of the 11 counts and a judgment of acquittal on an additional one.

Daniel Reidy from Jones Day won favourable comments from a number of sources - labelling him "prominent", "pre-eminent" and "the very best". This reputation is well founded and Reidy is a fellow of the ACTL and a former prosecutor in the US attorney's office, where he specialised in political and judicial corruption cases and in matters involving allegations of complex financial crimes. Reidy was the lead prosecutor in the Operation Greylord and is partner-in-charge of the Chicago office.

William Linklater from Baker & McKenzie has a "great reputation in the antitrust area" and has worked on a number of criminal antitrust conspiracy matters for a range of clients in industries such as marine construction, automotive and food additives. Linklater is also a Fellow of the ACTL. Robert Stephenson represents the newly merged Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP in this chapter. Stephenson was described as a "very strong lawyer" and a committed speaker on white-collar topics. He has been a Fellow of the ACTL since 1993 and has represented clients in high-profile government investigations of corporations and corporate officers, as well as conducting internal investigations for corporate and government clients and providing corporate governance and compliance advice.

Sheldon Zenner is the national chair of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP's white-collar criminal and civil litigation practice. Zenner joined the firm after seven-and-a-half years with the United States Attorney's Office, ending his tenure as the deputy chief of the special prosecutions division. Zenner's practice focuses on white-collar and fraud litigation and he is involved in a wide range of investigations involving securities, health care, customs, antitrust, education and tax issues.

Sidley Austin LLP's Scott Lassar is a former US attorney whose practice includes white-collar criminal defence, representation before the SEC, and class-action securities litigation. He regularly advises clients on Foreign Corrupt Practice Act issues and has conducted many investigations for public and private companies. Thomas McQueen is now at his own firm after co-chairing the white-collar criminal and corporate compliance practice group at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. McQueen "belongs on the list" according to one leading source and is a "prominent name" in the white-collar arena.

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