News

25 Feb 2009

New leadership announced for US White Collar, Investigations, and FCPA and Corporate Compliance practices

Firm Continues to Strengthen Regulatory and Investigative Capabilities

Press Release

(Baltimore, New York, Washington, DC) – DLA Piper announced today that Patrick Smith and Charlie Scheeler will co-chair the US White Collar, Corporate Crime and Investigations practice, and Sharie Brown and Carlos Ortiz will serve as chair and vice-chair of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Anti-Corruption and Corporate Compliance practice.

"With more than 40 former government lawyers in the US, and former enforcement officials and regulators worldwide, the firm has significant capabilities in these areas domestically and across the globe," said Robert J. Mathias, Joint Global Leader and US Chair of DLA Piper’s Litigation practice. "In their new leadership roles, these lawyers will help further strengthen and build the profile of our White Collar, Investigations, FCPA and Corporate Compliance practices worldwide through collaboration with our colleagues abroad."

About Patrick Smith and Charlie Scheeler

Smith represents organizations and individuals in criminal and regulatory investigations, and specializes in the defense of securities enforcement matters. He served as an assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of New York, spending five years in that office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, and as an associate independent counsel in the Whitewater Investigation under Independent Counsel Robert B. Fiske, Jr.

Scheeler is a former assistant US Attorney and handles internal investigations and white collar criminal defense as well as commercial litigation matters. His trial experience includes over 25 jury trials, and he recently served as lead counsel to Senator George J. Mitchell in connection with his independent investigation of performance enhancing substance use in Major League Baseball. Scheeler also successfully defended MCI WorldCom in federal and state criminal investigations arising out of a multi-billion dollar accounting fraud that resulted in the company’s bankruptcy, obtaining a dismissal of state criminal charges and a declination of federal charges on behalf of the company.

DLA Piper’s White Collar, Corporate Crime and Investigations practice has extensive national and global experience representing clients in government investigations. The team includes numerous white-collar professionals, many with experience as government prosecutors, who have defended investigations conducted by the US Department of Justice, US Attorney’s offices across the country, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal regulatory agencies, as well as state prosecutors and attorneys general. DLA Piper has conducted independent investigations around the world, leveraging its experience and global reach to provide comprehensive and credible results to its clients, including corporate audit and special litigation committees.

About Sharie Brown and Carlos Ortiz

Brown is a former assistant US Attorney, Mobil Oil Corporation compliance officer, and chair of a white collar and compliance practice at another firm. She has extensive experience representing multinational corporations and conducts internal investigations, audits and transactional due diligence worldwide in the areas of the FCPA, Office of Foreign Assets Control compliance and export controls, USA Patriot Act and related areas.

Ortiz has handled many FCPA matters for firm clients including the representation of companies and individuals before DOJ and the SEC. He is an experienced former prosecutor with extensive trial experience, having served as Deputy and Acting Chief of the Criminal Division of the US Attorney’s office in New Jersey and as a Trial Attorney with the Western Criminal Tax Enforcement Section at the Tax Division in the Department of Justice.

DLA Piper’s FCPA, and Corporate Compliance practice represents multinational clients in many sensitive FCPA matters and provides counsel on the different aspects of a company’s anti-corruption efforts, from compliance controls to internal investigations to interacting with regulators.