The white-collar and regulatory defence group at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP offers advice on corporate defence, compliance and regulatory work. It frequently handles high-profile investigations by a range of enforcement agencies, including the SFO, DoJ and SEC, and is noted for successfully negotiating the Rolls Royce deferred prosecution agreement (DPA). The practice also has expertise in prevention measures, sanctions, UK Bribery Act matters and money laundering. Its international client base is made up of large corporates in the engineering, aerospace and defence, infrastructure projects, energy, oil and gas, mining and financial services sectors. The ‘extremely well-qualified‘ team is headed by former attorney general Lord (Peter) Goldsmith QC and ‘subject matter expert‘ Karolos Seeger, who specialises in bribery and corruption, international sanctions, fraud, tax evasion and defence representations. Jane Shvets, who splits her time between London and New York, is adept at handling internal investigations, and data protection and cyber security matters.

Recognized by clients for its ‘breadth of knowledge‘, the team at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP was further strengthened in 2020 by the hire of Avi Gesser from Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. This effectively broadens an already strong offering led by the ‘top-notch‘ Luke Dembosky and privacy specialist Jeremy Feigelson. The group regularly handles complex work in breach response, and also covers classified matters affecting law enforcement, emerging data technologies such as artificial intelligence, and cyber investigations with a focus on the national security space. The group is also noted for its proprietary data portal that enables clients to quickly assess their breach notification obligations and generates relevant templates. Risk assessor Jim Pastore and GDPR expert Jane Shvets are other important contacts. Named lawyers are based in New York, aside from Shvets, who divides time between New York and London.