Dispute resolution
Morrison Foerster has an established investigations and white-collar defence practice, which has a fine record in Latin America cases. The Latin America-focused group is complemented by the firm’s prominent global privacy practice and in-house forensic accounting group. The team includes three former managers from the DOJ Criminal Division’s fraud section, including Washington DC partner Charles Duross, who is active in Latin America cases. Of late, the group has continued to advise on internal investigations, defence of clients before the DOJ and SEC, compliance programmes and transaction due diligence. It continues to represent multinational clients and financial institutions from around the world in large-scale investigations involving their Latin America operations. New York partner Ruti Smithline is co-chair of the investigations and white-collar defence practice group and co-chair of the Latin America department; she was born and raised in Colombia and is a fluent Spanish speaker. Washington DC’s John Smith previously served as a top official at OFAC and is actively engaged in Latin America matters.
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Profile
Position
Ruti Smithline | White Collar Defense + FCPA | Morrison Foerster
Ruti Smithline serves as co-chair of the firm’s Latin America Desk, in addition to being a member of Morrison Foerster’s FCPA + Global Anti-Corruption group and a former co-chair of the Investigations + White Collar Defense group. Her practice focuses on complex litigation, with an emphasis on white collar criminal defense, SEC enforcement, and corporate internal investigations.
Ruti regularly advises clients on cross-border investigations, global compliance programs and anti-corruption due diligence for acquisitions, joint ventures, and private equity transactions. Ruti has represented individual and corporate defendants in cross-border criminal investigations, SEC enforcement matters, and other regulatory proceedings, including matters related to trade sanctions and anti-money laundering. She has experience conducting corporate internal investigations both domestically and internationally, often advising clients on remedial measures responsive to the issues investigated.
Ruti was born and raised in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish. She has conducted investigations, seminars and anti-corruption training in Spanish throughout Central and South America.
Ruti has been recognized by industry leading publications including Chambers & Partners, where she is ranked in the USA guide for Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations in New York and nationally for their FCPA category, in addition to being ranked in the Latin America guide for Corporate Crime & Investigations across the LatAm region. She has also been recommended by Legal 500 US in their Corporate Investigations and White Collar Criminal Defense category, was recently selected by LatinVex as one of "Latin America's Top 100 Lawyers: FCPA & Fraud" for 2022, and has also been named to Global Investigations Review's "Women in Investigations" 2018 survey, which recognizes the top 100 leading female investigations specialists from around the world.
Ruti received her J.D. from The George Washington University School of Law, where she graduated with honors and as a member of the Order of the Coif. She received her B.A. degree cum laude from Cornell University. She is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey.
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Key clients
- Odebrecht (Novonor)
Work highlights
Served as the independent compliance monitor as appointed by the DOJ and two separate multilateral development banks for Odebrecht (now Novonor) in the wake of a multi-jurisdictional resolution worth billions of US dollars.