White Collar Defense and Investigations

Accounting and Securities Fraud

We are a recognized leader in the defense of companies, officers, and directors, in connection with a broad array of investigative and enforcement actions by DOJ, SEC, state attorneys general, and other federal and state regulatory agencies involving securities and accounting fraud. Chambers USA ranked the firm Band 1 National for Securities Regulation and named our lawyers among the leading securities regulation lawyers.

Anti-Corruption and FCPA

We are a top rated law firm in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) matters, with a team that includes former DOJ prosecutors and SEC enforcement attorneys. The firm conducts global FCPA internal investigations and represents clients before enforcement agencies like the DOJ, SEC, and Serious Fraud Office. Our lawyers have extensive experience advising corporations and executives on anti-corruption compliance, handling complex investigations, and maintaining regular contact with enforcement authorities worldwide. We collaborate closely with the White Collar Defense & Investigations team, ensuring a comprehensive approach to high-stakes enforcement matters. Additionally, we regularly advise clients on proactive strategies to mitigate anti-corruption risks, helping them navigate complex regulatory landscapes.

Antitrust and Competition Investigations

Described by Global Competition Review as “one of the best cartel defense shops in the world,” Gibson Dunn boasts a premiere antitrust investigations practice in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. We have represented clients in over 100 antitrust investigations, and have secured full immunity for more than 50 companies and their officers, directors, and employees. These investigations have involved government enforcers in approximately 20 countries on five continents, including the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission, providing a depth of global experience that no other law firm can match.  While many of these investigations involve traditional forms of antitrust conduct—such as price fixing, market or customer allocations, and bid rigging—Gibson Dunn is also on the forefront of novel enforcement actions involving algorithmic collusion, criminal monopolization, private equity, and labor markets. With our unrivaled expertise, Gibson Dunn remains the go-to law firm for any company involved in a government antitrust investigation.

Anti-Money Laundering

Gibson Dunn’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) practice excels in advising financial institutions and businesses on compliance with AML and economic sanctions laws, as well as defending clients in enforcement investigations. Our team focuses on creating global, risk-based AML compliance programs tailored to evolving regulations. We work closely with the White Collar Defense & Investigations, and International Trade Economic and Sanctions Practice Groups to provide comprehensive, integrated legal solutions for complex AML and sanctions matters.

Computer and Intellectual Property Crimes

We represent clients in cases involving charges of computer hacking, intrusion and intellectual property offenses, including matters arising under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Economic Espionage Act, and the criminal copyright and trade secret statutes, as well as other high-technology offenses. We coordinate with members of our Intellectual Property Practice Group to provide the most effective defenses to these types of charges.

Congressional and Other Legislative Investigations

We have significant experience in representing clients in high-pressure and high-profile investigations and hearings before the U.S. Congress and other legislative bodies.

Consumer Protection

Gibson Dunn’s leading Consumer Protection practice represents clients in government investigations, rulemakings, and enforcement actions related to alleged unfair or deceptive practices, privacy concerns, and product-safety matters, among other types of matters. Led by former government officials and accomplished litigators, the practice also helps clients to mitigate risks through compliance programs and other proactive engagement strategies. Our lawyers help companies navigate compliance issues involving a range of agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Crisis Management

In today’s fast-paced environment, the right response to a crisis — whether it’s a whistleblower allegation, an unexpected accounting issue, a product recall, a government investigation, or an industrial incident — demands a cohesive and strategic team capable of immediately responding on multiple fronts before the narrative is shaped in the public eye.

Gibson Dunn’s Crisis Management Practice Group provides clients with coordinated and efficient guidance on government investigations, potential prosecutions, civil litigation, and the unpredictable “x factors” that inevitably arise in high-stakes, high-profile situations. We offer legal and strategic counsel both inside and outside the courtroom, leveraging our extensive experience in public relations—an essential skill when facing serious and fast-moving legal challenges. Our team advises on risk reduction and strategy even before matters turn into a crisis, ensuring that clients are looking around corners and are well-prepared to handle proactively potential legislative, regulatory, social and legal issues impacting their business and industry.

Data Privacy and Cybersecurity

We represent clients across industries in global regulatory investigations, providing real-time insight into regulators’ priorities and evolving positions, as well as strategies that have been successful at avoiding regulatory enforcement. Regulators have made clear that our advocacy and approach have been the decisive factor in their decisions not to pursue enforcement against our clients. Our creative, proactive advocacy and sharp command of the factual narrative have been decisive in achieving favorable outcomes and avoiding regulatory enforcement. When settlements are desirable, we avoid substantive relief that would constrain our clients’ operational freedom. Our clients’ business imperatives guide us in every regulatory investigation, consistently protecting and advancing their interests.

Our market-leading track record in successful administrative law challenges sets us apart, enabling us to push back on jurisdictional expansion and optimize leverage as regulators pursue enforcement in new areas.  Our many successes in administrative law challenges empower our clients to defend investigations from a position of strength.  We actively shape agency rulemaking on key issues and lay the groundwork for successful challenges to agency rules and authority, often avoiding enforcement even in top-priority regulatory matters.

Environmental Violations and Compliance

Working as a team with our Environmental Litigation and Mass Tort Practice Group, we defend corporations and individuals against charges of criminal violations of various state and federal environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, Toxic Substances and Control Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. We handle criminal environmental litigation. The firm also conducts investigations related to environmental compliance and workplace safety.

False Claims Act

Gibson Dunn is the premier firm in FCA defense. Our team has experience in all phases of FCA litigation.  From conducting internal investigations once a company becomes aware of a potential FCA suit, to the extremely important meeting with the government to convince it not to file a suit or become involved in one filed by a whistleblower, to winning cases early on at the pleading stage, to engaging in discovery and trying cases, Gibson Dunn has done it all when it comes to the FCA.

Health Care Fraud and Abuse

We have defended a range of pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostic companies, as well as other health care providers, in numerous investigations and litigation matters involving the Anti-Kickback Statute, Controlled Substances Act, False Claims Act (FCA), Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), state false claims statutes (including state private insurance fraud prevention acts), and other similar laws. Our experience spans both intervened and non-intervened matters. From conducting internal investigations upon the discovery of a potential qui tam suit, to crucial meetings with the government during an investigation, to winning cases early at the pleading stage, to engaging in discovery and trying cases, we have extensive expertise in handling FCA and other health care fraud and abuse laws.

International Trade

Our international trade experts work closely with Gibson Dunn’s white-collar investigation, anti-corruption, national security, regulatory, transactional, and litigation teams, offering a deep bench of expertise globally. Few firms can match our global presence and comprehensive experience. Our International Trade attorneys are at the forefront of U.S. sanctions and export control policies, advising and testifying before government committees, and helping clients navigate complex regulations. We secure difficult export controls and sanctions authorizations, enabling compliant business operations or exits from sanctioned jurisdictions. In coordination with our national security, securities, and white-collar litigation practices, we advise on anti-corruption and anti-terrorist financing compliance, including FCPA issues related to sales agents, joint ventures, acquisitions, and foreign government contracts. We also provide counsel on anti-money laundering compliance, representation in financial institution regulatory enforcement actions, and structured compliance training programs.

Investigations

Repeatedly recognized as the world’s best investigations practice, clients turn to Gibson Dunn for comprehensive expertise in navigating internal, external, domestic, and international investigations, along with associated criminal and civil litigations and enforcement proceedings, across a wide range of industries and legal issues. We handle a wide array of investigations, including government and internal investigations, across various practice areas, such as labor and employment, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, securities, competition/cartel matters, and fraud. Our wide breadth of expertise enables us to address the unique challenges faced by clients in different industries and regulatory environments.

Monitorships

Our team brings a unique perspective, having successfully conducted and advised on multiple FCPA and non-FCPA monitorships, a distinction shared by few firms. Our team regularly performs risk assessments, compliance program evaluations, and remediation efforts under U.S. and foreign regulatory scrutiny. With extensive monitorship experience, we provide clients with valuable global insights into corporate compliance challenges. Having our work on compliance monitorships reviewed by U.S. regulators, we understand exactly what prosecutors and regulators expect from corporate compliance programs, offering tailored solutions to meet those standards.

National Security

Gibson Dunn’s National Security team provides comprehensive counsel on sanctions, export controls, and other critical regulatory matters, helping clients navigate foreign direct investment and complex cyber and physical threats. Our lawyers have extensive experience advising government contractors and companies involved in classified programs, with a focus on compliance with U.S. laws governing cross-border economic transactions. As the U.S. government increasingly engages the private sector in counterterrorism and national security efforts, we remain at the forefront, addressing emerging issues such as government access to data and handling civil, criminal, and congressional investigations tied to national security concerns.

Gibson Dunn uses its unparalleled expertise to help clients successfully navigate the increasing global enforcement focus on sanctions and export controls. Enforcement agencies in the United States and throughout the world are increasingly prioritizing their sanctions and export enforcement efforts. What previously had been a discrete area of regulatory risk for companies now carries the possibility of significant civil and criminal enforcement from global regulators. Because of this enforcement focus, companies, financial institutions, and organizations, both foreign and domestic, require experienced advisors to ensure their enforcement risk is managed and mitigated effectively.

State Attorney General Investigations

Gibson Dunn has significant experience representing both domestic and international clients in complex, multi-jurisdictional investigations and enforcement actions by state Attorneys General and local regulatory bodies. Our experience spans the United States, with particular depth in New York, California, Texas, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and Colorado. We specialize in guiding clients facing multistate Attorney General investigations, whether they are coordinated or unfolding independently. As Attorney General investigations rise, often in tandem with federal agencies like the FTC, SEC, and CFPB; we leverage our wealth of experience across regulatory, data privacy, consumer protection, antitrust, and trial law to deliver comprehensive and effective solutions to these complex issues.

Tax Offenses

We are experienced in representing corporations at every stage of state and federal investigations and litigation involving allegations of tax fraud and evasion that may arise separately or in conjunction with allegations of other crimes, including antitrust violations, violations of private and public securities laws and regulations, money laundering and illegal currency transfers, RICO violations, and obstruction of justice.

Trials

Gibson Dunn is renowned for its experience in trying cases against the government, boasting a distinguished team of trial attorneys, many of whom are former federal prosecutors. This unique insight into government strategies has enabled the firm to successfully handle numerous high-stakes and complex cases. Our strategic approach to litigation, combined with deep regulatory and compliance knowledge, allows us to effectively challenge government actions at trial.