Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations

Foley’s Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations litigators have significant subject-matter strength in areas such as Health Care, Compliance, and Securities Regulation, to aggressively defend businesses, corporate boards, and individuals under investigation, enabling us to win trials and confidentially investigate allegations of wrongdoing for corporate clients. Our attorneys excel at convincing the government to decline pursuit and reasonably resolve cases and investigations.

We have worked for and against federal and state agencies, so we know what regulatory and law enforcement officials seek. This inside angle helps clients refute allegations of wrongdoing, manage voluntary self-disclosures, and negotiate parallel civil, criminal, and administrative inquiries. Foley & Lardner brings all of these skills to the table; more importantly, we are one of the few marquis law firms whose defense team includes former prosecutors in both the civil and criminal divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice — some of whom served as former assistant U.S. attorneys — and a state chief deputy attorney general. 

Our lawyers also have literally and figuratively written the book on compliance with ITAR, EAR, and OFAC requirements as well as the FCPA, the FCA, the Dodd-Frank whistleblower-protection statue, and the full breadth of laws and regulations involving antitrust, import/export, CFIUS, securities, data privacy, health care fraud, money laundering, tax, and other issues. In addition to our work at the DOJ, our lawyers have held senior policy and investigative positions at the U.S. Department of Treasury (and its Office of Foreign Assets Control), CMS, the Department of Commerce, the SEC, the PCAOB, and other agencies. Our legal teams are lean and focused; we assign lawyers with real-world trial experience and deep knowledge of the laws and regulations in question around the world. When needed, our lawyers can conduct investigations in Spanish and Japanese.

The Foley Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Practice Group has a “National Tier 1” ranking in U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms.”