Editorial: Business Crime in California

01 August 2007

Jones Day is a very strong performer in California and the firm fields three nominees who are among the most highly nominated in the entire research. Brian Sun and Brian O’Neill represent the LA office while John Cline practises in San Francisco. Sun has a “reputation as a superior lawyer” and has represented James J Smith, a retired FBI counter intelligence agent accused of mishandling national security documents and was co-counsel for former nuclear scientist Dr Wen Ho Lee who was falsely accused of spying for China. Sun was an assistant US attorney in Los Angeles and served as head of a federal task force targeting sophisticated money laundering operations in the US and abroad. O’Neill is rated as “a terrific trial lawyer” with government experience that includes four years as an assistant US attorney and chief of special prosecutions in LA. Cline was co-counsel for Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby in his criminal trial in Washington, DC, taking the lead in handling the classified information and national security issues relating to the highly publicised case. He has also represented Amnon Landan, former CEO of Mercury Interactive, in various matters relating to allegations of stock option backdating. He is a former member of the white-collar crime committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. 

John Keker of Keker & Van Nest LLP is California’s most highly nominated practitioner. Keker comes recommended as “one of the toughest defence lawyers, respected for his skill and tenacity” and his experience includes the 2005 representation of Google against Microsoft in a trade secret case. The “fantastic” Jan Nielsen Little and Elliot Peters join Keker on the following pages and make up what is regarded in the industry as “a formidable team”. The firm is a 50 strong boutique devoted to white-collar and complex civil litigation. This is mirrored in Little’s practice, which has seen her represent the former chief financial officer of a Fortune 50 company in a nationally publicised 2003-2004 investigation in Texas, defending a prominent San Francisco attorney acquitted on RICO/drug conspiracy and obstruction charges, successfully defending at trial a police investigator charged with drug smuggling, and securing an acquittal for a businessman charged with loan fraud. According to sources, Keker and Little “combine vigorous and passionate advocacy for their clients with sound judgment”. Little also conducts corporate internal investigations and has government experience, having spent four years as a prosecutor for the public integrity section of the United States Department of Justice criminal division. Like Little, Peters also spent four years serving as an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of New York. In private practice, Peters has represented, among others, a lawyer accused of billing fraud, a drug company executive accused of paying kickbacks to a doctor and a lobbyist prosecuted by an independent counsel. 

With three nominees, Lightfoot Vandevelde Sadowsky Crouchley Rutherford & Levine is another of California’s most respected firms for business crime work. The firm specialises in criminal defence and places an emphasis on complex and whitecollar cases. John Vandevelde emerges as one of the state’s leading lights and formerly served as assistant US attorney in Los Angeles. His practice is dedicated to white-collar criminal defence and he “has significant experience in every area”. Michael Lightfoot is one of the founding partners of the firm and “a well-known adversary”. Janet Levine completes the trio and is “a highly qualified individual” who, together with Vandevelde, represented accused doubleagent Katrina Leung. 

The trial practice firm of Coughlan Semmer & Lipman LLP fields three highly rated lawyers in San Diego – Robert Semmer, Jerry Coughlan and Michael Lipman. The three founding partners lead by example and have handled investigations and trials related to virtually every conceivable white-collar criminal and related allegation. Semmer has tried more than 100 jury trials and 100 court trials and during a tenure in the San Diego US Attorney Office he specialised in whitecollar and corporate prosecutions as assistant United States attorney. Coughlan was also a federal prosecutor and while serving as an assistant US attorney received the Justice Department ‘Directors Award’ in 1982. Lipman is another recipient of this award, taking the honour in 1981. 

Munger Tolles & Olson LLP is another firm boasting three nominees in this chapter. The firm is a Californian stalwart with apanalysis: proximately 189 lawyers, divided between its offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. All three of the individuals selected for inclusion in this chapter hail from the LA office. Brad Brian is “one of the firm’s heavy hitters”. Richard Drooyan served as chief assistant United States attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Bart Williams also has governmental experience as assistant United States attorney in the central district of California. Williams’s skills in the courtroom are reflected in the internal corporate investigations he has conducted for companies in the US and in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, Thailand and Venezuela. He is a member of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Bar Association / Federal Bar Association white-collar crime subcommittee, and served as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the FBA and on the board of trustees of the Los Angles County Bar Association. 

Other firms stand out. O’Melveny & Myers LLP is one example providing two partners for the chapter. Daniel Bookin is “thorough, meticulous, fair and discreet”, and “has been at the forefront of the stock options cases”. He has acted for Franklin Templeton Investments in numerous state and federal investigations in the mutual fund industry. Bookin works in the San Francisco office. Partner James Asperger is based in LA. Asperger was chief of the major frauds section of the Los Angeles US Attorney’s Office. 

The “terrific” Gordon Greenberg practises in the Los Angeles offices of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and represented Ross Perot Sr and Perot Systems in the congressional hearings concerning the California energy crisis. James Sanders joins him on the following pages. Bird Marella Boxer Wolpert Nessim Drooks & Lincenberg is a speciality litigation firm with two nominees in this chapter. Vincent Marella is a “superior talent and extremely well regarded”. Another former assistant United States attorney for the central district of California, Marella represented an international corporation and its chief executive of- ficer in the largest federal criminal tax case in the nation at the time. Ronald Nessim is cochair of the national ABA white-collar crime committee and is “a top-notch practitioner”. He is also a prolific author and was highly nominated by clients and peers alike.

Jan Handzlik at Howrey LLP was rated as “fantastic” by a prominent source and is part of the securities litigation, government enforcement and white-collar defence practice group in the Los Angeles office. A recent chairman of the ABA’s national white- collar crime committee, Handzlik also served as an assistant United States attorney. Richard Marmaro of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is also in the upper echelons of our research. Marmaro heads the West Coast SEC enforcement and white- collar defence practice at Skadden and recently successfully defended the former CEO of Gateway in an SEC enforcement action. Charles La Bella of La Bella & McNamara LLP is a “distinguished” inclusion in this chapter. La Bella has the experience and expertise of a former United States attorney. As does George O’Connell who like La Bella represents a firm he subsequently founded. Stevens & O’Connell LLP is a litigation law firm specialising in complex civil litigation and business crime investigations. O’Connell handles matters for both plaintiffs and defendants. Cristina Arguedas of Arguedas Cassman & Headley LLP is a “living legend” and has defended corporate officials from companies that include Enron, Tosco, British Petroleum, Avant! and Critical Path. Arguedas is known by her clients and peers to be “very effective” and “a highly skilled trial lawyer”. She would be the first port of call “for trial work in any kind of criminal case, including business crime cases”, according to one source. 

Mark Beck of Orrick Herrington& Sutcliffe LLP is a “highly regarded and well respected individual” who served as assistant chief of the criminal division and received the Department of Justice special achievement award for exceptional service on behalf of the United States. Bryan Daly a former partner of Beck from Mayer Brown LLP is another highly acclaimed federal prosecutor and was awarded the Department of Justice special achievement award for sustained superior performance as an assistant United States attorney. According to one competitor, Daly “continues to attract highend clients”. 

Another “well-known name” in the business is Mark Holscher who moved from O’Melveny & Myers LLP to Kirkland & Ellis LLP earlier this year to join the firm’s growing white-collar criminal defence group. While at O’Melveny, Holscher was a member of the defence trial team for Jeffrey Skilling in his criminal prosecution relating to the collapse of Enron. Holscher continues to work on the defence of Congressman Duke Cunningham on corruption charges post plea and is vice chair of the ABA white- collar section. He also served as an assistant US attorney for the central district of California and is regarded as “a stand-up professional” and “a heavyweight” in the market. 

Thomas Holliday from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP received a great deal of praise during the research: one source declared, “there is no one better in the US.” Holliday is co-chair of the firm’s business crimes and investigations practice group. Representative experience includes acting as counsel for the defendant in United States v General Dynamics et al, a seven-count indictment alleging conspiracy and fraud in connection with a government contract for the army. Another recent case involved representing the defendant in United States v Parker et al, a 38-count indictment alleging bank fraud, RICO violations, money laundering and tax fraud. He also worked on United States v Douglas Dowie et al, a 16-count indictment alleging conspiracy and wire fraud as counsel for the defendant. 

Robert Corbin is from Corbin & Fitzgerald LLP, a boutique litigation firm in Los Angeles with a focus on white-collar criminal defence and business litigation. Corbin served as a deputy federal public defender for the central district of California and “would be my first port of call”, according to one respondent to our survey. 

Lawyers from the firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP “are very well known, thanks to the excellence of their work”. They are represented in this chapter by John Potter, co-chair of the firm’s whitecollar and corporate investigations practice group. Potter is also chair the ABA whitecollar committee for the northern district of California. Prior to entering private practice he was an assistant United States attorney. His practice focuses particularly on the areas of securities fraud, antitrust and health care litigation. Clarence & Dyer LLP is a litigation firm with a “remarkable trial lawyer” at the helm. Nanci Clarence’s experience includes handling cases for high-ranking executives in the SEC and DoJ investigations into Enron, Homestore.com and Critical Path. A former assistant federal public defender, Clarence is “totally at home in the courtroom”. 

Robert Brewer is managing partner of the San Diego office of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. He has a wealth of government experience to call on following his time as deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, assistant United States attorney and assistant chief of the criminal division of the Los Angeles United States attorney’s office. He has been called upon in private practice to represent San Diego Superior Court judges who have been accused of misdemeanours. 

Michael Shepard leads Heller Ehrman LLP’s white-collar criminal defence practice. With many federal appointments under his belt, Shepard served as interim United States attorney for the northern district of Illinois (Chicago) by appointment of Attorney General Janet Reno. Shepard is highly regarded by clients and peers for his “impressive trial experience”. 

Also included in this publication is the “unparalleled” Douglas Young from Farella Braun + Martel LLP. Young was lead counsel for both Korean Airlines and Samsung in separate antitrust price-fixing investigations, conducted by the Department of Justice’s antitrust division. William Goodman is based in the San Francisco office of Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP. He is known for representing Reliant Energy in a criminal case arising from the California energy crisis and was described to researchers as “a real contender”. 

David Wiechert was an assistant United States attorney for the central district of California and a member of the major frauds unit. Now a sole practitioner, Wiechert is famous for winning the acquittal of the director of general accounting for Carl Karcher Enterprises – the first insider trading prosecution filed in the central district of California. Brian Hennigan heads the white-collar crime defence practice at Irell & Manella LLP. Hennigan also has extensive government experience, serving as the deputy chief for the government fraud and public corruption section of the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles and head of the Los Angeles medicare fraud task force. David Scheper from Overland Borenstein Scheper & Kim LLP is also a seasoned advocate. He served as an assistant US attorney and was chief of the criminal division during his tenure. Scheper has “great experience” representing executives and companies in investigations involving the backdating of stock options and consequently is well known in this area.

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