Businesses today face challenges navigating an increasingly complex regulatory and legal landscape. While the first line of defense is a strong compliance program, even the most responsible business may find itself the subject of a civil, regulatory—or even criminal—government investigation. When that happens, businesses, their boards, executives and employees need counsel experienced in responding to the weight and force of such government actions. The lawyers in Duane Morris’ White-Collar Criminal Defense, Corporate Investigations and Regulatory Compliance Group have extensive experience representing corporate and individual clients in all stages of civil, regulatory and criminal government investigations. They regularly handle complex parallel investigations, involving both criminal authorities, such as the U.S. Department of Justice, and federal and state regulatory agencies such as the SEC, CFTC, FTC, FERC, state attorney general offices, state securities commissions and financial self regulators, including FINRA and NFA. Whether the goal is to convince prosecutors or regulators not to bring enforcement actions or, when necessary, convincing juries in civil or criminal litigation, Duane Morris attorneys have a history of skillfully representing clients in challenging federal and state prosecutions and enforcement proceedings.

Our lawyers have first-hand and front-line experience in how prosecutors, regulators and investigators think, structure their investigations and build their cases, allowing us to anticipate what is coming and to formulate defenses and strategies to address government action head-on. Our team includes: 

  • The former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Assistant U.S. Attorneys from seven U.S. Attorney’s Offices from around the country
  • Five former attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., including from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section
  • A former Assistant Director of Enforcement and two former enforcement attorneys from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
  • Former Antitrust Litigation Counsel for the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition
  • Former Assistant Attorney General of Texas
  • Former Head of the Federal Public Defenders Office in Philadelphia
  • Veteran criminal defense counsel with decades of experience

We capitalize on the breadth of experience our lawyers have from decades of conducting internal investigations and navigating regulatory and criminal investigations, with the goal of securing the best possible result for our clients: no action or enforcement by the government and minimizing collateral consequences that commonly accompany government investigations. Critical to our success is that our lawyers have substantial experience in managing the complexities of multijurisdictional and parallel criminal and regulatory investigations—both as defense counsel and from having conducted these investigations while with the government. We have the necessary skills and depth to handle the ever-present parallel proceedings and congressional and legislative investigations. Our experience allows us to guide clients seamlessly through the discovery of a potential problem, the investigation to determine the facts, the decision to self-report and/or remediate, and to obtain the most favorable resolution to the matter.

Range of Services

What helps separate us from other law firms is that we are more than just litigators—we are trial lawyers. Our lawyers appear in state, federal and administrative courts and regularly try both civil and criminal cases to judges and juries, leading to the induction of multiple Duane Morris lawyers into the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers. Many of our lawyers are also ranked by Chambers and Partners for white-collar expertise. Moreover, Duane Morris has been recognized by BTI Consulting Group as an Awesome Opponent for 2025 and, for the fourth year in a row, as part of the BTI Client Service 30 as one of the top 30 global firms for client service. These and other accolades reflect the development of specific acumen in a multitude of areas, including:

  • Criminal investigations and prosecutions involving insider trading, wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, commercial bribery, financial fraud, aggravated identity theft and tax related offenses.
  • SEC investigations and enforcement proceedings, including actions against registrants and Rule 102(e) disciplinary proceedings against lawyers and auditors
  • Tax fraud, the Bank Secrecy Act’s Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)
  • Healthcare fraud and False Claims Act, including qui tam/whistleblower actions
  • Criminal and civil antitrust and foreign competition matters
  • Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enforcement
  • Environmental criminal prosecutions and EPA enforcement, including under the Clean Air Act
  • Department of Labor (DOL) investigations
  • Government procurement fraud
  • Immigration and customs enforcement
  • Theft of trade secrets and economic espionage
  • Public and political corruption
  • Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and UK Bribery Act
  • U.S. Department of Education investigations as well as investigations by states, including the Pennsylvania Department of Education
  • Civil investigations by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), including for market manipulation

Regardless of what our clients face—criminal or regulatory investigations or the resulting litigation—the attorneys in our White-Collar Criminal Defense, Corporate Investigations and Regulatory Compliance Group have the skills and experience to successfully navigate clients through the serious threat that comes with a government investigation.

For More Information

For more information, please contact Sharon L. Caffrey, Stephen H. Sutro, Mary P. Hansen, William M. McSwain or any of the practice members referenced in the Attorney Listing.