Stephen Fishbein, head of Shearman & Sterling's Litigation Practice Group, and Danforth Newcomb, founder of the firm's FCPA Practice, were recognized by MainJustice.com, an independent news organization that covers the US Department of Justice (DOJ), as two of the “Best FCPA Lawyers Outside the Beltway.” The list included only five lawyers nationally and was compiled by recommendations from the lawyers' peers.

As the article points out, although historically the overwhelming majority of the FCPA bar resided in Washington, D.C., close to the lawyers at the Justice Department’s Criminal Fraud Section and the Securities and Exchange Commission, this is changing. As the FCPA is an international statute, it is common to see parallel investigations in multiple countries. "Clients want their U.S. counsel to have some idea of what’s going on overseas," Fishbein says. He adds, "A lot of firms have foreign offices, but the trick is to have people in those offices with experience in these matters."

The article emphasizes the breadth of Fishbein's FCPA experience, including serving as the government-appointed FCPA compliance monitor for Houston-based oil services company Baker Hughes Inc. and representing Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks in a worldwide FCPA investigation, along with his colleague Newcomb. Fishbein also represented four former executives of Titan Wireless Corp. in DOJ and SEC investigations under the FCPA and Switzerland-based power utility technology company ABB Ltd., which settled FCPA charges last year.

Newcomb’s broad experience with the FCPA began in 1976 with an SEC-mandated investigation of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s foreign marketing practice, which was a precursor for the law. Since that time, as the article notes, Newcomb has been regarded as one of the pre-eminent FCPA lawyers in the country. In recent years, Newcomb's FCPA practice has included grand jury investigations, DOJ inquiries, FCPA review requests, internal investigations and compliance programs for U.S. and foreign clients on matters in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and former Eastern Bloc countries. He recently served as the government-appointed FCPA compliance monitor for Johnson Controls (York International) and represented ABB Ltd. and its upstream oil and gas subsidiaries in SEC and U.S. criminal investigations in connection with the subsidiaries’ marketing practices in 103 countries. Newcomb is a member of the Board of Advisers to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Reporter and a founding member of the Board of Editors of the Money Laundering Law Report.

Shearman & Sterling's Anti-Corruption Practice Group has represented clients in many of the largest investigations involving potential violations of the FCPA and the anti-corruption laws of other countries. According to a recent edition of Chambers USA, Shearman & Sterling's Anticorruption Practice Group is "ranked among the top litigation practices in the US for White Collar Crime & Government Investigations."

View full article, "Best FCPA Lawyers Outside the Beltway"