Latham Named White Collar Group of the Year

Law360 has named Latham a 2019 White Collar Group of the Year for securing declinations and favorable resolutions of investigations related to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as for leading notable internal investigations.

The publication’s coverage noted that the group is “unique in having three former top-level DOJ lawyers who are women,” including partner Kathryn Ruemmler, who serves as Global Chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice; and partners Alice Fisher and Leslie Caldwell, who both led the DOJ’s criminal division.” In an interview with Law360, Ruemmler said, “‘We have got a lot of bet-the-company-matters being handled by a dozen or more partners in the practice group globally. I think that is very unusual.’”

Law360 highlighted several examples of Latham’s recent work, including:

• Securing a groundbreaking declination from the DOJ on behalf of Cognizant Technology Solutions (Cognizant) regarding FCPA violations, and a reasonable resolution with the SEC in its parallel investigation: Latham lawyers achieved this result despite the fact that two of Cognizant’s senior corporate officers were charged with improper conduct. Ruemmler, a lead partner on the team, told Law360, “‘From the client’s perspective, a declination is the gold standard.’” The Latham team was also led by partner Doug Greenburg, who serves as Washington, D.C. Litigation & Trial Department Co-Chair; partner Erin Brown Jones; and associates Natalie Hardwick Rao and Jessica Lynn Saba.
• Earning declinations from the DOJ and SEC for OSI Systems in FCPA investigations stemming from a report accusing the company of bribery in Albania, published by notorious short-seller Muddy Waters: In his interview with Law360, lead partner Bill Baker said that OSI was “‘doing things right in that market” and “that was part of the story that we were able to tell.’” Baker led a Latham team that included counsel Danny Dominguez and associates Lauren Talerman, Natasha Bronn Schrier, Catherine Yao, Charles Guinn, and Joseph De Leon. In addition to securing these declinations, Latham also obtained dismissals of two civil cases stemming from Muddy Waters’ short attack on OSI.
• Conducting an independent investigation into allegations that former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick engaged in sexual misconduct with seminarians studying at the Immaculate Conception Seminary, a graduate school of theology at Seton Hall University: Law360 emphasized the complexity of the investigation, noting, “Latham partner Jonathan Su said the investigation was one of the most unique and challenging of his career. The time period was long and predated smartphones, meaning the evidence available was different from what it would be now.” In addition to Su, the Latham team included Kathryn Ruemmler, Steven Croley, Sarah Gragert, Natalie Hardwick Rao, Rebekah Soule, Jessica Lynn Saba, Matthew Valenti, and Catherine Yao.

Law360 also recognized Latham’s FCPA work on behalf of oil and gas equipment and services company TechnipFMC, as well as the firm’s global representation of Nissan in connection with investigations related to highly publicized allegations that Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s former CEO and Chairman of the Board, failed to disclose millions in executive compensation awarded to him by Nissan and misappropriated Nissan’s corporate assets for nearly a decade.