Paul Monnin is a Litigation and Regulatory practice partner who focuses on white collar criminal matters and complex civil litigation. Mr. Monnin is an active trial lawyer, having personally tried 15 civil and criminal cases as lead counsel to juries and judges in both federal and state trial courts. He has also argued numerous cases to federal and state appellate panels.

Mr. Monnin is ranked by the respected research publication Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the fields of White Collar Crime and Government Investigations and General Commercial Litigation based on "strong feedback" from clients and peers. A Chambers source notes that "[h]is drafting is thorough and well prepared, he argues well in court, he understands the local environment and he is good at anticipating outcomes." Mr. Monnin has also been named a Georgia "Super Lawyer" in the area of White Collar Criminal Defense.

From 2002 to 2008, Mr. Monnin served as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta. He served as deputy chief of the Economic Crime Section from 2006 to 2008 and supervised a staff of 24 federal prosecutors, four paralegals, and a forensic auditor.

Experience

Mr. Monnin's recent engagements have included:

• The defense of multiple national and community bank officers in connection with grand jury investigations initiated by the US Department of Justice, FBI and FDIC-Office of Inspector General
• The representation of subjects in parallel investigations by the SEC and US Department of Justice regarding the validity of public company financial statements
• Leadership of a multi-year audit of the national compliance and ethics program of a major architectural/engineering firm arising out of its entry into a corporate integrity agreement with the US Department of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Representation of a credit hedge fund in connection with its collection of approximately $15 million in real estate financing collateral and its defense of fraudulent concealment and surety claims
• The defense of underwriters and registered investment representatives in multiple putative securities fraud class actions
• Leadership of a corporate internal investigation related to an enforcement action by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division
• The defense of a leading design and engineering firm charged with civil racketeering, fraud and breach of contract associated with its management of an approximately $750 million K-12 schools construction program
• The successful arbitration on behalf of a Medicaid care management organization of underpayment claims brought by the Georgia hospital systems of two national health care providers
• The defense of multiple patent infringement and false marking complaints, including through a successful motion to dismiss based on PTO reexamination of one of the patents in suit
• Leadership of a corporate internal investigation on behalf of a UK entity related to a theft of corporate property and usurpation of corporate opportunity by the president of its US subsidiary.

Mr. Monnin is a member of the Criminal Justice Act panel of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and has accepted appointments in federal fraud, drug trafficking and money laundering prosecutions. He has also represented clients on a pro bono basis in connection with their criminal appeals and habeas petitions and was a DLA Piper 2008 National Pro Bono Award nominee.

During his service as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Monnin represented the United States in grand jury investigations and trials involving public corruption, securities fraud, perjury, obstruction of justice, bank fraud, mail and wire fraud, health care fraud, tax fraud, Social Security fraud, government contracting and procurement fraud, false statements, money laundering, asset forfeiture, alien smuggling, immigration and employment document fraud, threats to federal officials, and conspiracy. Mr. Monnin was the principal prosecutor within the Atlanta US Attorney’s Office responsible for conducting parallel enforcement actions with the Atlanta, DC, Chicago, and New York enforcement staffs of the SEC, CFTC, FDIC and FTC, including actions in connection with their court-appointed receivers. These matters involved grand jury and audit and special committee investigations of alleged accounting fraud, stock manipulation, insider trading, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, director and officer self-dealing, and obstruction of justice, and included eliciting testimony and documentary evidence from subject company CEOs, CFOs, and inside and outside auditors, attorneys and analysts.

Mr. Monnin has spoken at many seminars sponsored by the Georgia Institute of Continuing Legal Education, the Business Law Institute, the Association of Corporate Counsel of America, the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association, the Georgia Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and various other government agencies and private accounting and consulting firms. He has lectured on forensic accounting issues at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business and Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business and has been interviewed on a variety of legal matters by national and local print and broadcast media, including The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Bloomberg News, The Atlanta Business Chronicle, Compliance Week, The National Law Journal, Legal Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Reuters.