July 5, 2016
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce that former federal prosecutor Patrick Stokes will join the firm as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office. Stokes most recently served as Senior Deputy Chief of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Within the last six years at the DOJ, he also served as Chief of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Unit and Co-Chief of the Securities and Financial Fraud Unit. At Gibson Dunn, Stokes will focus on litigation, white collar defense and investigations.
"We are delighted to welcome Patrick to the firm," said Ken Doran, Chairman & Managing Partner of Gibson Dunn. "Patrick is a tremendously talented lawyer, who enjoys a high profile in the enforcement community and is widely respected in the private and public sectors. With nearly 18 years of experience as a federal prosecutor, much of it leading complex white collar investigations in several substantive areas, Patrick will be a fabulous asset for our clients in the U.S. and around the world."
"Through his reputation and credentials and our personal experience, we know Patrick was one of the DOJ’s highest caliber lawyers," said F. Joseph Warin, Co-Chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group. "With his background leading two of the highest profile units at the DOJ, we are confident that Patrick will be a very strong addition to our already deep bench of more than 50 former federal prosecutors. His addition will allow us to further distinguish the firm as the leading choice for clients facing their most significant enforcement matters."
Stokes’s addition follows the recent arrivals of Stephanie Brooker, former Director of the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and Adam Smith, former Senior Advisor to the Director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
"Patrick is an extremely skilled litigator with significant first chair experience," said Daniel Nelson, Co-Partner in Charge of the Washington, D.C. office. "Having tried some of the Justice Department’s highest profile cases, Patrick will augment our already highly regarded trial capabilities and help us maintain our position at the top of white collar defense and enforcement short-lists."
"Gibson Dunn has one of the best white collar defense practices in the world and a well-deserved reputation for excellence and collegiality," said Stokes. "I am looking forward to working with such a distinguished group of lawyers to contribute to the firm’s continued success."
About Patrick Stokes
Stokes, who has served at the DOJ since 2008, most recently served as Senior Deputy Chief of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, Fraud Section, where he oversaw investigations, prosecutions and resolutions in the FCPA Unit.
From 2014 to March 2016, Stokes was Chief of the FCPA Unit. In this role, he managed the DOJ’s FCPA enforcement program and all criminal FCPA investigations and prosecutions nationally covering every significant business sector. He also assessed corporate anti-corruption compliance programs in connection with corporate investigations and participated in the selection of corporate compliance monitors. During his tenure, the FCPA Unit’s successes included 11 corporate FCPA resolutions with penalties of about $1.3 billion, including the largest criminal FCPA fine and two of the 10 largest criminal FCPA resolutions to date, and charges and convictions against more than two dozen individual defendants.
From 2010 to 2014, he served as Co-Chief of the DOJ’s Securities and Financial Fraud Unit. In this role, he oversaw a large docket of complex white collar cases, including investigations and prosecutions of financial fraud schemes involving accounting fraud, benchmark interest rate manipulations, insider trading, market manipulation, Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) fraud, government procurement fraud, and large-scale mortgage fraud, among others. From 2008 to 2010, Stokes served as a senior trial attorney in the Securities and Financial Fraud Unit. While with the Fraud Section, Stokes also led multiple high-profile trials involving charges of foreign bribery and financial fraud.
Stokes received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award in 2013 and 2014 and the Assistant Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award (Criminal Division) in 2011 and 2014.
From 2002 to 2008, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. He prosecuted a wide variety of criminal cases and served as lead prosecutor (first chair) in more than 25 felony jury trials and argued six cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. From 1998 to 2002, he served in the DOJ’s Tax Division as a trial attorney in the Western Criminal Enforcement Section.
He graduated in 1998 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an editorial board member of the Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law.