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Dentons

Dentons

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United States • Dispute resolution

5

Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense

Dentons represents both individual and corporate clients in a wide range of criminal, civil, and regulatory enforcement actions, and is distinguished on the market by its ‘global reach, deep bench strength, and highly collaborative approach to client service'. Leading the group from Washington DC, seasoned trial lawyer Mark Califano is proficient in litigation, government, and regulatory investigations, internal board and corporate investigations, corporate governance, criminal law, cyber security, and compliance.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Accolades

Client satisfaction: NPS ®

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Dentons is distinguished by its global reach, deep bench strength, and highly collaborative approach to client service. The practice combines strong technical expertise with a practical, business-focused mindset, allowing the team to deliver advice that is both sophisticated and commercially effective.'

  • ‘Melissa Gomez Nelson stands out as an exceptional primary point of contact—highly responsive, organized, and consistently proactive in anticipating needs and driving matters forward with clarity and efficiency. She combines strong judgment with a practical, business-focused approach, communicates in a direct and solutions-oriented way, and ensures the right resources are mobilized quickly.'

  • ‘Having collaborated with the Dentons dispute resolution team I have been extremely impressed not only with the calibre of cases they represent but also the individuals within the team. The team is great and easy to work with, offers and provides clear instructions to assist with collaborating various jurisdictional efforts. The complex cases they deal with offer great opportunities for teams from various jurisdictions to work alongside each other to achieve global efforts on behalf of its clients and their multijurisdictional needs.’

  • ‘Louis Pellegrino is extremely approachable and knowledgeable. Whilst being a fantastic advocate and highly specialised in his field he is also a pleasure to work with. Observing him in action during depositions was a truly remarkable thing to witness.’

Key clients

  • Irada Akhoudova
  • The Parton Family

Work highlights

Retained as outside counsel to Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon in connection with a variety of litigation and government investigation matters globally, initially relating to its decentralized finance platform Mirror Protocol and its governance token MIR, and growing to include its suite of stablecoins, the cryptocurrency Luna, the Anchor Protocol, and other projects.
Representing the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department in an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (“DOJ”), pursuant to the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
Represented Ms. Akhoundova, a business woman in Houston Texas who was connected to the State Oil Company of Azerbaizjan (SOCAR).
Practice head

Mark Califano

Other key lawyers

Paul Charlton; Lisa Krigsten; Matthew Lafferman; Melissa Gomez Nelson; Louis Pellegrino