A&O Shearman‘s investigation and white-collar defense practice adopts a comprehensive integrated approach to guiding clients through intricate criminal, regulatory, and internal inquiries. The team’s expertise spans anti-money laundering, bribery and corruption, insider trading, and financial crime enforcement. The firm provides support to both companies and individuals through government investigations, trials and compliance reviews. The practice is led by David Esseks, based in New York, who specializes in securities litigation and anti-corruption investigations. John Nathanson, also in New York, represents clients in cross-border litigations and enforcement investigations. Katherine Stoller, based in New York as well, focuses on white-collar defense and financial crime matters. Adam Schwartz, based in Washington DC, boasts experience in representing companies and individuals in investigations led by the DOJ, SEC and the CFTC among other government agencies involving securities, antitrust and FCPA matters. Stephen Fishbein is sought after for experience in antitrust, compliance, and internal investigations.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘John Nathanson is my go to contact. He is experience, measured, calm, diligent, responsive and has great perspective. He assembles the right teams for the right matters, gives the right advice, and has excellent judgment. There is a reason so many sophisticated clients rely on him in some of their most important matters: because he is a great lawyer.’
- ‘What is unique is the global size and breadth of their practice group. They seem to have top people all over the globe who are handling important matters for significant corporate and individual clients). Unlike most competitors, their team has the experience to practice in local courts and before local regulators when needed. They have consistently good people in the US, in Asia Pacific and in Europe. And they have senior people who have worked at DOJ, SEC, CFTC, FEC, and OFAC.’
- ‘Adam Schwartz is a superstar--a former AUSA in both DC and EDVA, he has both serious trial chops and experience conducting long-term, complex investigations. A lot of lawyers are good with paper--they know how to do interviews, review a lot of documents, and so on. But Adam is much more than that--he can also take a case to trial and be a deeply credible threat if that happens.’
- ‘Adam Schwartz is part of a terrific team over there. Especially since the merger, the firm is now a globe-spanning powerhouse.’
- ‘Adam Schwartz is an aggressive but pragmatic litigator, with a good sense of the current goings-on in white collar practice. He has the ability to advise a client in the boardroom or advocate in the courtroom. ’
- ‘David Esseks is superb - very smart and experienced Gene Ingoglia is also strong’
Key clients
- Allianz
- Bank of America
- DOJ Monitor, Frances McLeod (Binance Settlement)
- Chevron
- Citibank
- Goldman Sachs
- JP Morgan
- Morgan Stanley
- Paramount
- Societe Generale
Work highlights
Counsel to DOJ’s Independent Monitor of Binance, the global cryptocurrency exchange, in connection with its USD4.3bn BSA/AML and sanctions resolution with DOJ, with respect to the remediation and enhancement of Binance’s compliance program.
Representing BitMEX, a crypto-currency trading platform, in connection with criminal and regulatory investigations in the U.S. concerning potential money laundering and trade sanctions violations, as well as potential Commodity Exchange Act violations.
Represented Danske Bank in investigations by DOJ, the SEC, Danish and French criminal authorities arising from its former Estonian branch, resulting in a USD 2bn global settlemen.
Lawyers
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Practice head
David Esseks; John Nathanson; Katherine Stoller
Other key lawyers
Adam Schwartz; Stephen Fishbein