Michael Diamant

Michael S. Diamant is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. His practice focuses on white collar criminal defense, internal investigations, and corporate compliance.

Mr. Diamant has broad white collar defense experience representing corporations and corporate executives facing criminal and regulatory charges. He has represented clients in an array of matters, including False Claims Act violations, accounting fraud and antitrust violations, before the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Diamant also has managed numerous internal investigations for publicly traded corporations and conducted fieldwork—including more than 200 witness interviews—in eleven different countries on four continents. In the area of corporate compliance, Mr. Diamant regularly advises major corporations on the structure and effectiveness of their compliance programs. This often includes reviewing reporting mechanisms, internal payment controls, and compliance messaging, as well as drafting new compliance materials, such as ethics and anti-corruption handbooks.

Among Mr. Diamant’s substantive areas of expertise is the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). Mr. Diamant conducts internal investigations for corporations regarding possible violations of the FCPA and assists them in complying with government subpoenas and negotiating settlements with enforcement agencies. He also routinely advises corporations on the adequacy of the design and implementation of their FCPA compliance programs. Mr. Diamant has designed entire anti-bribery compliance programs, as well as guidance and payment approval materials, for Fortune 100 corporations. He also frequently conducts FCPA training for in-house counsel, corporate executives, and line employees. In addition to his work for clients, Mr. Diamant has held leadership roles in the FCPA compliance monitorships of Siemens AG and Statoil ASA.

Mr. Diamant also writes and speaks on issues of FCPA compliance and enforcement. Notable speaking engagements include the following:

• “Anti-Corruption Enforcement in China on the Rise: Minimizing Risk of FCPA and Chinese Law Violations and Responding to Investigations” (Washington, D.C., March 2013), Strafford Publications Webinar;
• “FCPA Due Diligence in Mergers and Acquisitions: Assessing and Mitigating Pre-Closing Risks and Implementing Post-Closing Protection Strategies” (Washington, D.C., October 2012), Strafford Publications Webinar;
• “Recent Developments in FCPA and International Anti-Corruption Enforcement and Compliance” (Washington, D.C., February 2012), Securities Docket Webcast;
• “Anti-Corruption Enforcement and Compliance Update” (Washington, D.C., September 2011), Securities Docket Webcast;
• “Developing an Effective Compliance and Ethics Program” (McLean, Virginia; May 2011), 2011 Conference on Sarbanes-Oxley 404;
• “The Cost of Corruption and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Brazil, Russia, & China” (Baltimore, Maryland; May 2011), BRIC Business Outlook Conference, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce;
• “Global Anti-Corruption Enforcement and Compliance – 2010 Year in Review” (Washington, D.C.; January 2011), Securities Docket Webcast;
• “Understanding the FCPA: Producing a Valuable Compliance Standard” (New York City; November 2010), Complinet’s 4th Annual New York Customer Summit;
• “FCPA Compliance: Third Party Due Diligence – Minimizing Corruption Risks When Using Foreign Agents, Distributors and Other Intermediaries” (Washington, D.C.; August 2010), Strafford Publications Webcast;
• “Recent Developments – International Anti-Corruption Compliance” (Washington, D.C.; July 2010), presentation to the Global Business Interest Group of the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association;
• “FCPA & Bribery: Avoiding Pitfalls in China” (Baltimore, Maryland; June 2010), presenter at ExporTech China conference, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce;
• “An Overview of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” (Washington, D.C.; April 2010), guest lecture at the George Washington University School of Business;
• “Corruption Crackdown: The FCPA and Recent Enforcement Trends” (Oslo, Norway; November 2009), hosted by PricewaterhouseCoopers; and
• “Doing Business Internationally: Minimizing FCPA Risk Exposure” (McLean, Virginia; May 2008).

Mr. Diamant’s recent academic and professional publications on the FCPA and related topics include the following:

• “Decoding FCPA Enforcement: The U.S. Government Issues Comprehensive Guidance on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” Insights: The Corporate and Securities Law Advisor (Vol. 26; December 2012) (with F. Joseph Warin and Christopher Sullivan);
• “Don’t You Forget About Me: The Continuing Viability of the FCPA’s Facilitating Payments Exception,” 73 Ohio St. L.J. Furthermore 19 (2012) (with Jesenka Mrdjenovic);
• “FCPA + Travel Act: Double trouble?” CNBC Moneycontrol (April 3, 2012) (with Brendon Fleming);
• “Hot off the Press: Resetting the Global Anti-Corruption Thermostat to the U.K. Bribery Act,” 12 Bus. L. Int’l 257 (2011) (with Lee G. Dunst and Teresa R. Kung); 
• “Somebody’s Watching Me: FCPA Monitorships and How They Can Work Better,” 13 U. Pa. J. Bus. L. 321 (2011) (with F. Joseph Warin and Veronica S. Root);
• “The British Are Coming!: Britain Changes Its Law on Foreign Bribery and Joins the International Fight Against Corruption,” 46 Tex. Int’l. L.J. 1 (2010) (with F. Joseph Warin and Lord Charles Falconer);
• “FCPA Compliance in China and the Gifts and Hospitality Challenge,” 5 Va. L. & Bus. Rev. 33 (2010) (with F. Joseph Warin and Jill M. Pfenning); and
• “Use of ‘Conscious Avoidance’ Doctrine in Frederic Bourke Conviction Expands Corporate Executives’ FCPA Exposure,” Securities Docket (July 22, 2009) (with F. Joseph Warin and Matthew P. Hampton).

Mr. Diamant clerked for the Honorable Fortunato P. Benavides of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He is a 2003 magna cum laude graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif. At Georgetown, he served as Senior Articles & Notes Editor of the American Criminal Law Review and authored the article on the False Claims Act for the Seventeenth Survey of White Collar Crime, 39 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 491 (2002). In 2000, Mr. Diamant received his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service magna cum laude from Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.