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Seasoned Trial Counsel in Investigations, Regulatory Enforcement and Litigation

Phillips Lytle’s White Collar Defense and Government Investigations Practice Team has extensive experience in counseling clients prior to any regulatory or criminal intervention, as well as in managing responses to government investigations and negotiating with agencies or prosecutors when the need arises. The team includes seasoned trial counsel who represent clients facing criminal or administrative investigations, regulatory enforcement proceedings, and criminal and related civil litigation, all of which often proceed on parallel tracks. Our team’s broad experience in white collar defense allows us to represent clients facing regulatory enforcement problems, and their deep bench positions us to counsel clients facing multiple governmental investigations and proceedings at the same time.

Our experience includes matters involving:

White collar crime and criminal trials in federal and state courts
Representation of targets, subjects and witnesses in grand jury investigations
Subpoenas and civil investigative demands from state and federal agencies
The False Claims Act and Qui Tam litigation
Criminal anti-trust
Environmental crimes
The Trading with the Enemy Act
Healthcare fraud
Perjury and false statements
SEC/FINRA/securities enforcement
The Anti-Kickback Law
Lobbying Act violations
Federal and state tax offenses, including IRS and New York State Department of Taxation and Finance investigations
The theft of intellectual property and trade secrets
Criminal appeals in federal and state court

Industry Recognition

Comprehensive Client Representation

We excel in a number of key areas with regard to government investigations and defending white collar cases.

Criminal Trial Defense

We represent companies and individuals named as targets, subjects or witnesses in federal and state grand jury prosecutions and investigations. Our White Collar Defense and Government Investigations attorneys work to avoid criminal proceedings and have a wealth of experience working with prosecutors to avoid indictment or, where warranted and consistent with a client’s goals, to arrange a result acceptable to our clients. We work diligently with clients who are experiencing regulatory difficulties to help them come into compliance and avoid criminal proceedings. When criminal proceedings in federal or state court are unavoidable, we defend the case aggressively, move to dismiss where possible and prepare for trial to seek a favorable jury result. Our attorneys have extensive experience with jury trials and pre-trial and dispositive motions and litigation, including motions to dismiss and to suppress. If the need for separate counsel for certain individuals arise, we have strong working relationships with national counsel as well as Buffalo’s other premier criminal defense attorneys and can establish a strong joint defense team.

Government Investigations and Subpoenas

We regularly handle matters for businesses and individuals faced with civil investigations or subpoenas from state and federal agencies, including the New York State Attorney General’s office, individual U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, among others. Our team’s deep experience responding to civil investigations and subpoenas gives us the background to resolve clients’ legal issues efficiently and effectively, but also means that we understand acutely what is at stake for our clients.

Clients facing state and federal regulatory investigations may face financial penalties, industry suspensions and bars, or other limits on their ability to conduct business as they see fit. We have experience resolving state and federal investigations in ways that permit our clients to continue to operate their businesses with minimal repercussions from the investigation.

Clients often turn to us to respond to investigations conducted by the New York State Attorney General. These typically involve matters involving New York’s False Claims Act, consumer fraud statutes, federal debt collection statutes, and prevailing wage issues, as well as various other statutes and regulations. Depending on the circumstances and our role, our efforts often involve negotiations or litigation, as well as coordination with media and governmental relations specialists. We regularly assist clients who are mere witnesses as well as those who become targets of an investigation.

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Corporate and Internal Investigations

Our attorneys are well-versed in conducting internal investigations for companies across a broad spectrum of industries, particularly highly regulated industries like banking and health care. A thorough internal investigation allows companies to assess compliance with regulations, determine the scope of any legal problems to consider voluntary self-disclosure incentives, and respond effectively to government investigations to resolve potential liability.

False Claims Act

Our White Collar Defense and Government Investigations Team has broad experience in the area of government proceedings involving the False Claims Act. We also have experience addressing debarment and other ancillary consequences that may arise out of a false claims investigation or prosecution.

New York State has ramped up its own statutory framework (State Finance Law Article 13) that allows whistleblowers, local government and agencies to pursue claims against vendors and others who submit false filings. We also have represented corporate clients against such claims threatened by the New York State Attorney General.

Healthcare Fraud

Our experience representing healthcare clients positions us to defend against regulatory and criminal enforcement or white collar crime. Our attorneys have defended against indictments involving Medicaid fraud, in addition to other legal matters in the health care industry.

Theft of Intellectual Property and Business Loss Investigations

Our team has investigated and litigated against employees, former employees and competitors engaged in alleged criminal activity to the detriment of our business clients. The investigative process often involves the proper confidential gathering of evidence prior to the involvement of law enforcement. This allows our clients to evaluate the quality of the evidence, the alleged misconduct, and the potential risks and rewards associated with pursuing criminal or civil remedies against a wrongdoer.

Our white collar defense experience allows us to properly preserve evidence consistent with criminal procedural and constitutional protections to avoid the risk of having a harm go unaddressed.

Criminal Appeals in Federal and State Court

Our attorneys are experienced in the preparation and handling of criminal appeals in both federal and state courts involving all aspects of criminal practice, including pre-trial motions, motions to suppress and Fourth Amendment issues, trial issues and sentencing issue.