Brian Whisler > Baker McKenzie LLP > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile
Baker McKenzie LLP Offices
815 CONNECTICUT AVENUE, N.W.
WASHINGTON, DC 20006
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
United States
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Brian Whisler
Work Department
Litigation Arbitration and Dispute Resolution
Position
Brian Whisler is a senior leader in the Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice, and has previously served as Chair of the DC Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice Group. He is a member of the Global Compliance and Investigations, Dispute Resolution and Health Care and Life Sciences Practice Groups.
Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Brian served for fifteen years as a federal prosecutor with the US Department of Justice. During that time, he was the Criminal Chief Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond, overseeing and prosecuting cases ranging from white collar crime, violent crime, public corruption, and terrorism. His trial practice focused predominantly on white collar cases, including health care fraud, securities fraud, public corruption, money laundering and tax fraud. He previously served as an Assistant US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina for ten years, where he focused on white collar prosecutions and received the Attorney General’s Award for his prosecutions in a money laundering investigation resulting in convictions of more than 25 defendants after three jury trials and multiple guilty pleas. He also served as Chief of Appeals and Health Care Fraud Coordinator for the same jurisdiction.
Brian has also served as adjunct professor at the University of Richmond, TC Williams School of Law and an instructor at the National Advocacy Center for the US Justice Department in Columbia, South Carolina.
Career
Brian has extensive federal trial and appellate experience, having tried over 30 cases to verdict and argued more than 40 cases at the federal appellate level. He is experienced in handling a broad range of civil and criminal matters, including cases implicating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, False Claims Act, Anti-Money Laundering laws, Health Care Fraud, Securities Fraud, and Procurement Fraud.
Brian has led multijurisdictional internal investigations and provided regulatory advice to multinational and domestic clients across many sectors, including oil and gas services, pharmaceuticals, financial services, manufacturing, and telecommunications. Additionally, he has developed compliance programs for Fortune 50 corporate clients, advised Boards and Audit Committees, guided companies and individuals in government investigations in multiple global jurisdictions and defended clients in criminal and civil litigation. He also represents companies and individual clients in investigations before multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as the US Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and the Global Fund.
Languages
English
Memberships
- International Bar Association – Anti-Corruption Committee – Legislative Officer
- International Bar Association
- Virginia State Bar, Health Care Law Section
- Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists – Member
- Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics
- ABA Global Anti-Corruption Task Force
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
Baker McKenzie LLP is renowned for its extensive experience in managing cross-border investigations across multiple jurisdictions. The firm is known to regularly represent multinational corporations and senior executives in investigations of the DOJ and SEC. In Chicago, Peter Tomczak and Jerome Tomas lead the team, with Tomczak specializing in FCPA matters and Tomas focusing on matters such as securities fraud, insider trading and money laundering investigations. William Devaney heads the team in New York and is particularly adept at managing complex international investigations related to bribery, false claims and embezzlement. Alongside Devaney, New York-based Cyrus Vance has deep experience white-collar investigations, sanctions enforcement, cybersecurity and compliance. The firm also benefits from the expertise of Reagan Demas and Brian Whisler, in Washington DC, who have an impressive track record in dealing with matters relating to corruption, compliance and white-collar crime.
United States > International trade and national security > National Security
Baker McKenzie leans into its broad global network by offering a practice that is capable of handling worldwide foreign investment reviews. The team has the capability of representing companies in matters involving CFIUS, sanctions, export controls, and the mitigation of FOCI over government contractors. Rod Hunter (Washington DC) advises international and domestic firms on US foreign investment regulation, specifically regarding CFIUS and FOCI frameworks. Terence Gilroy (New York) advises financial institutions, corporations, and individuals on white-collar crime and sanctions compliance issues. Janet Kim, DC, focuses on economic sanctions and export control laws. Brian Whisler (Washington DC), Cyrus Vance (New York) and Alison Stafford Powell (Palo Alto) are key members of the wider National Security practice.
Lawyer Rankings
- National Security United States > International trade and national security
- Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense United States > Dispute resolution
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- International trade and national security > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Finance > Fintech
- Finance > Project finance
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
Firm Rankings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- Dispute resolution > International litigation
- Tax > International tax
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
- Transport > Aviation and air travel: litigation and regulation
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- International trade and national security > National Security
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: middle-market (Up to $500m)
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- International trade and national security > CFIUS
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- International trade and national security > Trade remedies and trade policy
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense