George L. O'Connell is senior counsel in DLA Piper's Litigation practice, based in Sacramento.

Mr. O'Connell has been a trial lawyer focusing on complex civil litigation and sophisticated white collar criminal cases since 1976. He has represented clients ranging from some of the biggest companies in the world to politically prominent individuals in the most challenging types of civil and criminal cases.

His background as a former United States Attorney and federal prosecutor has made him particularly well suited to represent corporations and individuals in an extremely wide range of sophisticated matters, including the most challenging civil, administrative and criminal actions brought by federal and state government agencies.

Mr. O'Connell also has wide experience representing corporations and individuals in highly complex civil cases, ranging from securities fraud matters to unfair trade and trademark violations, employee fraud, tax fraud, products liability and other complex litigation. He has a national reputation as a top trial lawyer, as reflected in his consistent listings and high ratings for many years in a wide variety of prestigious publications such as The Best Lawyers in America, Who's Who Legal and Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. He has repeatedly been named a Northern California Super Lawyer.

Mr. O'Connell served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California from 1991 to 1993. He then served as a partner at Downey, Brand, Seymour & Rohwer in Sacramento until he founded Stevens & O'Connell with Chuck Stevens in 1997. Prior to his appointment as United States Attorney in 1991, Mr. O'Connell served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District and headed the Special Prosecutions Unit. From 1987 to 1989, he was a partner in Miller & O'Connell in Los Angeles, where he handled business crimes investigations and trials. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Special Prosecutions Unit of the Los Angeles US Attorney’s Office from 1980-1983, and in the Sacramento US Attorney's Office as Chief of the White Collar Crime Unit from 1983-1987. In these positions and as a lawyer in private practice, Mr. O'Connell has tried numerous jury trials in complex fraud, securities fraud, export enforcement, environmental crimes, public corruption, antitrust cases, tax fraud, trademark infringement and unfair competition claims and other highly complex criminal and civil cases.

Representative Matters

• United States v. [Confidential Client]: Representing an officer of a Taiwanese high-tech company in a criminal and civil anti-trust investigation
• Rollingwood, et al. v. Vallejo City Unified School District: Suit for breach of contract related to sale of property containing undisclosed arsenic contamination. Case pending
• United States v. Perata: Represented the former President Pro Tem of the California State Senate in a high-profile five-year federal criminal investigation into allegations of honest services fraud and misconduct in office. Obtained declination of all charges from two US Attorneys offices and the United States Department of Justice
• Turbomeca, S.A.: Defended this French helicopter engine manufacturer in a civil helicopter crash products liability case in federal court involving the death of two deputy sheriffs and severe injuries to a third deputy; plaintiffs were seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages. Case resolved favorably for client prior to trial
• Hewlett-Packard: Successfully defended Hewlett-Packard in a Sarbanes Oxley whistleblower case involving a multi-week trial. Judgment was entered for Hewlett-Packard on all claims
• Represented Hewlett-Packard as plaintiff in multiple civil RICO cases involving employee dishonesty, honest services fraud and theft of trade secrets against former Hewlett-Packard employees and independent computer brokers; obtained multimillion-dollar recoveries for Hewlett-Packard
• Represented Hewlett-Packard as the plaintiff in a multimillion-dollar employee fraud case; obtained substantial recovery for Hewlett-Packard
• Agilent Technologies: Representing Agilent Technologies as plaintiff in a large scale employee fraud and unfair competition case
• B&H Manufacturing v. Bright, et al.: Successfully represented at trial a former CEO of an equipment manufacturing company in a civil fraud case involving alleged theft of trademark and trade secret and unfair competition lawsuit. After a two-and-a-half month trial in federal court, obtained a favorable verdict for the lient
• Bank of America v. State of California: Represented the State of California as special trial counsel to California Attorney General’s Office in a civil case involving claims by Bank of America in excess of $40 million, including pre-judgment interest. After lengthy trial, case settled favorably for the state
• Gerling Global Insurance Co. v. Commissioner of Insurance: Represented a large German insurance company in a civil case that involved a constitutional challenge to a California law regulating foreign insurers. After extensive trial court and appellate litigation, the law was held to be unconstitutional and attorney’s fees were awarded to the client
• United States v. [Confidential Client]: Represented large scale timber and lumber mill operator in a federal environmental criminal investigation. After lengthy investigation by the government, obtained declination of all threatened charges
• United States v. Southern California Edison: Defended Southern California Edison in a ground breaking civil case in which the United States government was attempting to recover in excess of $35 million in damages resulting from a major forest fire. After extensive litigation, case resolved favorably for client
• People v. Union Pacific Railroad: Represented Union Pacific in criminal and civil environmental cases in three California counties that charged Union Pacific with numerous alleged environmental violations. Cases were dismissed prior to trial on federal preemption grounds based on our motions to dismiss
• United States v. [Confidential Client]: Represented a subject of Enron criminal and SEC civil investigations. The case and all potential charges weredeclined both by the United States Department of Justice and SEC
• SEC v. [Confidential Client]: Represented a senior partner of a Big Five accounting firm in an SEC civil securities fraud investigation. Case was declined by SEC
• People v. [Confidential Client]: Representing a national home improvement store chain in a multi-county criminal and civil consumer fraud and Business & Professions Code § 17200 investigation. Case pending
• United States/SEC v. [Confidential Client]: Represented the CFO of a large publicly traded high-tech company in federal criminal and SEC civil investigation. No criminal charges or civil claim filed
• United States v. Home Americair: Successfully defended a major home health care provider, in a multi-year federal False Claims Act action brought by the United States. Case resolved favorably for client
• United States v. [Confidential Client]: Represented major insurance company in a multi-year federal criminal investigation, examining company's claims management practices. Case was declined and no charges filed
• United States v. [Confidential Client]: Represented a major dairy operation in a federal criminal investigation into an alleged violation of the Federal Clean Water Act. Prosecution was declined
• United States v. [Confidential Client]: Represented a senior officer of an international computer chip manufacturer in the DRAM anti-trust price fixing case. Case was declined and no charges were filed against client
• United States v. [Confidential Client]: Represented the CEO of a major high-tech company in a federal criminal securities case. Case was resolved favorably for client