F. Joseph Warin

F. Joseph Warin is chair of the 250-person Litigation Department of Gibson Dunn’s Washington, D.C. office, and he is co-chair of the firm’s global White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group. Mr. Warin’s practice includes representation of corporations in complex civil litigation, white collar crime, and regulatory and securities enforcement – including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations, False Claims Act cases, special committee representations, compliance counseling and class action civil litigation.

Mr. Warin is continually recognized annually in the top-tier by Chambers USA, Chambers Global, and Chambers Latin America for his FCPA, fraud and corporate investigations expertise. Most recently, he was recognized by Who's Who Legal in its Commercial Litigation 2023 guide. In 2021 Global Investigations Review named Mr. Warin to its list of Top FCPA Practitioners, which “highlights 30 outstanding lawyers and forensic advisers in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act space." Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal) named Mr. Warin a “Global Elite Thought Leader” in its Investigations guides list for Business Crime Defense – Corporate and Investigations each year since 2018. In 2022, Mr. Warin was selected by Chambers USA as a “Star” in FCPA, a “Leading Lawyer” in the nation in Securities Regulation: Enforcement, and a “Leading Lawyer” in the District of Columbia in Securities Litigation and White Collar Crime and Government Investigations. In 2017, Chambers USA honored Mr. Warin with the Outstanding Contribution to the Legal Profession Award, calling him a “true titan of the FCPA and securities enforcement arenas.” He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® every year from 2006 – 2025 for White Collar Criminal Defense. U.S. Legal 500 ranks Mr. Warin in the 2024 Hall of Fame listing for Dispute resolution – Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense and has repeatedly named him as a “Leading Lawyer” for Corporate Investigations and White Collar Criminal Defense Litigation. He has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a U.S. White Collar Crime Litigator “Star” each year since 2011 and was named to Securities Docket’s “Enforcement 40” for 2017. Mr. Warin is also recognized in Legal Media Group’s 2021 Expert Guide to the World’s Leading White Collar Lawyers. Mr. Warin is also regularly named a Leading Individual by Legal 500 Latin America in, International Firms: Compliance and Investigations. In 2019, Latinvex named Mr. Warin one of Latin America’s Top 100 Lawyers in the category of FCPA & Fraud. The Washingtonian Magazine named Mr. Warin one of Washington's "Top Lawyers" in White Collar Criminal Defense for 2024, and he was previously named from 2018 to 2022. BTI Consulting named Mr. Warin to its 2020 “BTI Client Service All-Stars” List.

Global Investigations Review ranked Mr. Warin's group No. 1 in its GIR 30, its “annual guide to the world's leading firms to turn to during the lifecycle of an investigation and its aftermath," for the fourth consecutive year. The publication noted that Gibson Dunn “is the premier firm in the investigations space and has an unrivaled FCPA practice." In 2016 Who’s Who Legal and Global Investigations Review named Mr. Warin to their list of World’s Ten-Most Highly Regarded Investigations Lawyers based on a survey of clients and peers, noting that he was one of the “most highly nominated practitioners,” and a “’favourite’ of audit and special committees of public companies.” Best Lawyers® named Mr. Warin the Lawyer of the Year in 2020 and in 2016 for White Collar Criminal Defense in the District of Columbia, and he was named among Lawdragon's "500 Leading Litigators in America" guide for 2025 and 2023.

Mr. Warin has handled cases and investigations in more than 40 states and dozens of countries. His clients include corporations, officers, directors and professionals in regulatory, investigative and trials involving federal regulatory inquiries, criminal investigations and cross-border inquiries by dozens of international enforcers, including UK’s SFO and FCA, and government regulators in Germany, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and the Middle East. His credibility at DOJ and the SEC is unsurpassed among private practitioners – a reputation based in large part on his experience as the only person ever to serve as a compliance monitor or counsel to the compliance monitor in three separate FCPA monitorships, pursuant to settlements with the SEC and DOJ: Statoil ASA (2007-2009); Siemens AG (2009-2012); and Alliance One International (2011-2013). He has been hired by audit committees or special committees of public companies to conduct investigations into allegations of wrongdoing in a wide variety of industries including energy, oil services, financial services, healthcare and telecommunications.

Mr. Warin’s civil practice includes representation of clients in complex litigation in federal courts and international arbitrations. He has tried 10b-5 securities and RICO claim lawsuits, hostile takeovers and commercial disputes. He has handled more than 40 class action cases across the United States for investment banking firms, global corporations, Big 4 accounting firms, broker-dealers and hedge funds.

Early in his career, Mr. Warin served as Assistant United States Attorney in Washington, D.C. As a prosecutor, he tried more than 50 jury trials and was awarded a Special Achievement award by the Attorney General. Mr. Warin was awarded the Best FCPA Client Service Award by Main Justice in 2013 and he joined the publication’s FCPA Masters list. He was named a Special Prosecutor by the District of Columbia Superior Court in 1988.

Mr. Warin graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was Editor of Law and Policy in International Business. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from Creighton University, where he was student body president. He served as a law clerk for United States District Court Judge J. Calvitt Clarke, in the Eastern District of Virginia. He has been a member of the American Bar Association's White Collar Criminal Law Committee since 1988 and served as president of the Assistant United States Attorneys Association. Mr. Warin has been selected to serve on insurance company panels for securities class actions. He is currently a member of the Board of the International Association of Independent Corporate Monitors.

Significant Representations include:

• Negotiated Department of Justice and SEC resolutions for one of the largest banks in the FX and Libor investigations.
• Represented Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned energy company, in its unique resolution with the Department of Justice and the SEC.
• Conducted the independent resolution of an investigation of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.
• Defended audit of Israel’s largest bank in negotiating a deferred prosecution agreement for tax related charges.
• Negotiated a criminal resolution for an international global oil company arising out of the Deep Water Horizon Gulf of Mexico spill.
• Defended executives of a top technology company and obtained dismissal of a derivative lawsuit alleging options backdating.
• Defended the nation’s third-largest telecommunications company in a criminal investigation conducted by Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney’s Office and achieved a declination of prosecution.
• Served as FCPA counsel for first non-US compliance monitor for Siemens in connection with one of the largest ever FCPA resolutions.
• Represented the Audit Committee of a $2 billion hospital chain against allegations of financial misrepresentations. Convinced the SEC and U.S. Attorney’s Office not to take any enforcement actions against client.
• Represented the Audit Committee of Fortune 50 energy company relating to allegations of earnings management.
• Represented client in the longest-running securities class action in the history of Washington, D.C. and achieved a modest resolution.
• Defended the president of a hardware supply company in a criminal price fixing case. The jury acquitted our client after a three week trial in St. Louis, Missouri.
• Served as FCPA compliance monitor pursuant to a deferred prosecution agreement with SEC and Department of Justice.
• Obtained numerous dismissals of lawsuits brought against the NASDAQ Stock Market and FINRA/NASD organization for more than 20 years.

Selected Speaking Engagements:

• Presenter at Gibson Dunn webcast, “Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering and Sanctions Enforcement and Compliance Update” (February 2023)
• Presenter at Gibson Dunn webcast, “Negotiating Closure of Government Investigations: NPAs, DPAs, and Beyond” (2019 - 2021)
• Presenter at Gibson Dunn webcast, “The False Claims Act- 2021 Updates: Financial Services Sector” (2018 - 2021)
• Presenter, "Ethics, Compliance & Inclusion,” Notre Dame University School of Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement (March 2021)
• Panelist, "C5's 15th Annual Fraud, Asset Tracing & Recovery Conference," (March 2021)
• Presenter at annual Gibson Dunn webcast, “Challenges in Compliance and Corporate Governance” (2004 - 2021)
• Presenter at Gibson Dunn webcast, “White Collar Enforcement Outlook 2021 – Sanctions/Export Controls, AML and Healthcare Fraud” (February 2021)
• Presenter at Gibson Dunn webcast, “FCPA 2020 Year-End Update” (January 2021)
• Presenter at Gibson Dunn webcast, “Anti-Money Laundering and Sanctions Enforcement and Compliance in 2020 and Beyond” (December 2020)
• Presenter at annual Securities Docket webcast, “Navigating Dodd-Frank’s Whistleblower Provisions and the FCPA" (2017 – 2021)
• Presenter at annual Gibson Dunn webcast, “FCPA Trends in the Emerging Markets of China, Russia, India, Africa and Latin America” (2011 - 2021)
• Presenter at Gibson Dunn webcast, “GDPR’s First Five Months: Emerging Trends and Implementation Challenges (October 2018)
• Presenter at Gibson Dunn webcast, “Ten Years After Siemens: The Evolving Landscape of Global Anti-Corruption Enforcement” (September 2018)
• Co-Chair, Global Investigations Review 5th Annual Live New York International Conference (September 2018)
• Panelist, “Trends in Telecommunications Enforcement,” at ACI’s 9th Global Forum on Anti-Corruption (July 2018)
• Panelist, “Regulators Roundtable,” at PLI’s Internal Investigations 2018 program (June 2018)
• Presenter at Gibson Dunn webcast, “The False Claims Act- 2018 Mid-Year Update: Financial Services Sector” (August 2018)
• Panelist, “Corporate Compliance Roundtable,” at University of Virginia, Darden School of Business (May 2018)
• Presenter at Gibson Dunn webcast, “Anti-Money Laundering and Sanctions Enforcement and Compliance in 2018 and Beyond” (May 2018)
• Panelist, “Ask the Experts: Q&A with ACI’s Global Anti-Corruption Advisory Board,” at ACI’s 20th Anniversary New York Conference on FCPA (May 2018)
• Presenter, “Lessons Learned from High Profile Investigations and Prosecutions,” at ABA Criminal Justice Section’s 2018 Spring Meeting (April 2018)
• Panelist, “No Turning Back: 40 Years of the FCPA and 20 Years of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention,” New York University School of Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement (November 2017)
• Presenter, “The Increasingly Global Scale of Investigations/Parallel Investigations,” Association of Corporate Counsel-National Capital Area Investigations Boot Camp (November 2017)
• Presenter, University of Virginia School of Law Corporate Compliance Roundtable (November 2017)
• Moderator, “FCPA Investigations and Enforcement: Developments and Updates,” at Practising Law Institute’s White Collar Crime 2017: Prosecutors and Regulators Speak Conference (October 2017)
• Presenter at Global Investigation Review’s 4th Annual Live New York International Conference (September 2017)
• Panelist, “Predictions, Prognostications and Plans: The New Legal and Regulatory Environment – Assessing Effective Compliance”, University of Virginia School of Law Corporate Compliance Roundtable (May 2017)
• Speaker at PwC Annual Client & Analyst Risk Summit, Boston, MA (April 2017)
• Co-Presenter at Statoil DPI Summit, “Compliance: Where is it Heading?”, in London, UK (March 2017)

Selected Professional Articles:

• “Dropping the Pilot – DOJ’s Toned-Down Corporate Enforcement Policy Reduces the Burden on Business and Could Improve Information Sharing”, (with M. Kendall Day and Daniel Chung), Global Investigations Review Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations Half-Year Update (July 2019)
• “Navigating Cross-Border Investigations Involving Switzerland”, (with Jason Smith and Susanna Schuemann), Global Investigations Review (July 2019)
• “Trends In DOJ Nonprosecution, Deferred Prosecution Deals”, (with M. Kendall Day and Melissa Farrar), Law360 (January 2019)
• “Co-operating with the Authorities: The US Perspective”, (with Winston Chan, Pedro Soto and Kevin Yeh) Global Investigations Review’s Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations Volume I: Global Investigations in the United Kingdom and the United States (January 2019, March 2018)
• “Corporate NPA and DPA: All in the Nuance”, (with Michael Diamant and Melissa Farrar) International Financial Law Review (March 2018)
• “Privilege – Introduction” and “Privilege – United States”, (with Daniel Chung and Audi Syarief) Global Investigations Review’s Know How (November 2016)
• “Six Trends in 2015 FCPA Enforcement”, (with John Chesley and Stephanie Connor), Wall Street Lawyer (February 2016, Volume 20, Issue 2)
• “Refusing to Settle: Why Public Companies Go To Trial In Federal Cases”, (with Julie Rapoport Schenker), Georgetown American Criminal Law Review (Volume 52, No. 3, Summer 2015)
• “2015 Mid-Year FCPA Update”, (with John W.F. Chesley and Stephanie Connor), Westlaw Journal Government Contract (August 2015)
• “A Practical Guide to the Use of the Commissioned Public Report as an Effective Crisis-Management Tool”, (with Oleh Vretsona and Lora E. MacDonald), Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy (June, 2015)
• “Senator Warren, Let the ‘Cops’ Do Their Jobs”, The Hill (April 2015)
• “2014 Year-End Update on Corporate Non-Prosecution Agreements and Deferred Prosecution Agreements”, (with Michael Diamant and Melissa Farrar). Westlaw Journal Government Contract (March 2015), and Bloomberg BNA (February 2015)
• “The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Enforcement and Compliance”, (with Michael Diamant and Elizabeth Goergen Silver) Bloomberg BNA Securities Practice Series Portfolio (No. 285, 2014)
• “Reexamining the Notion that Public Companies Cannot Fight Criminal Charges,” (with John W.F. Chesley and Sean Sandoloski), Financier Worldwide (October 2014)
• “Renewing the Call for Compliance Defense to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” (with Daniel Chung), Corporate Disputes Magazine (July 1, 2014)
• “How to use company data efficiently to detect fraud and corruption,” (with Michael Diamant and Oleh Vretsona), Financier Worldwide (August 2013)
• "Five Themes for General Counsel to Monitor with Respect to Dodd-Frank Whistleblowers and the FCPA," (with John W.F. Chesley), The FCPA Report (October 3, 2012)
• “Understand The Risks,” (with Michael Farhang and Elizabeth Goergen), IFLR (February 2012)
• "How to Deal with Business Corruption Risks in Mexico," (with Michael Farhang and Elizabeth Goergen), International Financial Law Review (January 30, 2012)
• “FCPA: Who is A Foreign Official?,” (with John W.F. Chesley and Jeremy Joseph), Compliance Reporter (August 8, 2011)
• “Somebody’s Watching Me: FCPA Monitorships and How They Can Work Better,” (with Michael Diamant and Veronica Root), University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law (2011)

Capabilities

• White Collar Defense and Investigations
• Anti-Money Laundering
• Antitrust and Competition
• Congressional Investigations
• Consumer and Retail
• Crisis Management
• ESG: Risk, Litigation, and Reporting
• Energy and Infrastructure
• FDA and Health Care
• False Claims Act / Qui Tam Defense
• Law Firm Defense
• National Security
• Oil and Gas
• Securities Enforcement
• Securities Litigation

Credentials

Education:

• Georgetown University - 1975 Juris Doctor
• Creighton University - 1972 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• District of Columbia Bar

Clerkships:

• USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Hon. J. Calvitt Clarke Jr., 1975 - 1976