White Collar Defense and Investigations

Our internationally recognized White Collar Defense and Investigations Group represents corporations, boards of directors, management and other individuals in all phases of civil enforcement and criminal investigations, jury trials and internal investigations.

We have decades of experience defending clients facing every type of significant matter brought by federal and state law enforcement agencies in the U.S., including U.S. attorneys’ offices, the DOJ, SEC, CFTC, FINRA, NFA, OFAC, FINCEN, IRS, federal and state banking regulators, state attorneys general and before Congress. We also conduct internal investigations for boards of directors, audit and special committees and management, often in their most sensitive situations.

Our global practice comprises senior lawyers in key financial centers in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, enabling us to represent clients in multijurisdictional dealings involving investigative agencies around the world, including the Financial Conduct Authority and the Serious Fraud Office in the U.K., BaFin in Germany, the European Commission in Brussels and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

Our team includes numerous attorneys who formerly served at senior levels of U.S. law enforcement including as U.S. attorney, assistant U.S. attorney and in other DOJ positions; SEC senior officers, CFTC director of enforcement; director of the National Counterterrorism Center; and in senior roles with OFAC, FINCEN and the OCC, as well as a former White House official.

Skadden is ranked as having one of the preeminent white collar defense and investigations practices worldwide. We were named New York Law Journal’s 2021 Litigation Department of the Year, and a finalist in the general litigation category of the publication’s 2022 and 2023 competitions. We also were named by The American Lawyer as a 2021 Litigation Department of the Year finalist. Skadden was named as having one of the top practices worldwide in Global Investigations Review’s 2022 GIR 30, a ranking of leading firms handling internal and government-led investigations. We also have been repeatedly ranked as a top firm for corporate investigations in Chambers Global and Chambers USA, as well as for white collar crime in Benchmark Litigation and Best Lawyers Best Law Firms.

Our attorneys also teach at prominent law schools and speak publicly and write extensively on white collar issues.