Patrick D. Robbins serves as a Global Litigation Practice Group Leader.

Mr. Robbins represents companies, officers, directors and employees in civil and criminal investigations and litigation. His matters involve foreign corrupt practices, antitrust, accounting and securities fraud, insider trading, trade secret, and health care violations, and obstruction of justice. His company clients have included Wells Fargo, Uber, UPS, Softbank, Toyota, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, Adobe Systems, United Continental Airlines, Bechtel, SAP, and LG Electronics. The industry leading publication, The Legal 500, has recommended Mr. Robbins for his “intelligence, common sense, integrity, diligence and wisdom.” Chambers and Partners has similarly endorsed Mr. Robbins, saying that he earns “praise for his strategic thinking” and “in-depth expertise,” and citing his “great judgment and ability to bring a wealth of experience in an effective and valuable way,” and that he is “cool under pressure.” Most recently, Benchmark Litigation, the leading litigation and disputes-specific directory, has recognized Mr. Robbins as a Litigation Star. Mr. Robbins has also earned Martindale-Hubbell’s AV Preeminent rating, for legal ethics and ability, and has been named a Northern California “Super Lawyer” for white collar matters every year since 2006.

Before becoming a partner at the firm, Mr. Robbins was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of California (San Francisco) for ten years, prosecuting white collar cases involving securities, commodities, mail and wire fraud, insider trading, money laundering, theft of trade secrets and obstruction, as well as organized crime, narcotics, firearms, and bank robbery cases. He represented the United States in federal jury trials and appellate arguments before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. From 2000 to 2001, Mr. Robbins served as Pacific Regional Coordinator for DOJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, and as Deputy Chief of the Narcotics Section. From 2002 to 2004, he was Chief of the Office’s Securities Fraud Section and participated in the Enron Task Force, leading the Department of Justice’s investigation into criminal manipulation of the California electricity markets by Enron and others during the State’s energy crisis.

Mr. Robbins first joined Shearman & Sterling in 1988 as a summer associate, and again as an associate in 1990 after a clerkship in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Mr. Robbins is a member of the firm’s Global Pro Bono Committee, as well as the firm's Policy Committee. He has served on the trial advocacy faculty for the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in the Hague for several years.

• Internal investigations of alleged wrong-doing on behalf of Special Committees of the Board of Directors for Wells Fargo, Uber, UPS and Softbank.
• For a publicly-traded broker dealer, in a two year–long investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into the firm’s anti-money laundering policies, procedures and investigations.After several presentations, the SEC declined to bring an action and closed the matter
• For SAP S.E., a publicly traded technology company, a complete declination from the Department of Justice, and a declination of bribery charges and no penalty from the SEC, after SAP’s Director of Latin America pled guilty to bribery in Panama and received a 22 month prison sentence
• For the Chief Financial Officer of a publicly-traded apparel company, a declination from the SEC after receipt of Wells Notice stating that SEC planned to bring an enforcement action against him
• Executives of multinational technology corporations in Department of Justice Antitrust Division grand jury investigations and prosecutions relating to alleged price-fixing cartels, including
  • A declination from DOJ for the Director of Sales for a Japanese multinational auto parts manufacture identified as a “carve-out” in the company’s plea agreement admitting criminal price-fixing
  • An acquittal for the Director of Notebook Computer sales at AU Optronics, the Taiwanese Liquid Crystal Display manufacturer, after a three week trial in San Francisco federal court.The client was charged with conspiring to fix the price of LCD panels with competitors over a three year period
  • An acquittal for the President of AU Optronics, in his earlier joint trial with four other AUO officers, the company and its U.S. subsidiary.Mr. Robbins was co-counsel at the eight week trial in San Francisco federal court.The client was charged with conspiring to fix the price of LCD panels with competitors over a four year period
  • The Vice-President of Sales at the Korean multinational company Hynix Semiconductor, in the DOJ’s prosecution of price fixing in the market for DRAM memory chips
  • As pool counsel, for over a dozen officers and employees of a European company in a DOJ criminal investigation into alleged price fixing in the market for industrial chemicals
• For United Airlines and Continental Airlines, in a federal antitrust class action alleging price fixing in the Transpacific air cargo market, and in a successful defense against an effort to enjoin the merger of the two airlines under the Clayton Act in 2010, in federal district court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• For Uber Technologies, Inc. and certain of the Company’s officers and directors in a purported securities class action asserting misrepresentations and omissions in connection with initial public offering. Successfully obtained dismissal of class action in California state court
• For Toyota Motor Corporation and its subsidiaries, in federal securities class and derivative actions. Successfully obtained dismissal with prejudice of bondholder class action in U.S. District Court, and state court derivative action pending in Los Angeles Superior Court
• Companies, officers and directors and Special Committees in over a dozen stock option backdating matters, in internal investigations, civil derivative and class actions, and before the SEC and DOJ, including
  • For the CFO of a public company featured for alleged backdating in the Wall Street Journal and charged by the SEC, a nominal settlement on the eve of trial which included the SEC’s agreement to dismiss all fraud charges
  • For the CEO of a public company featured for alleged backdating in the Wall Street Journal, a prosecution declination from the Department of Justice after lengthy presentations, a favorable settlement with the SEC, and a settlement of shareholder derivative claims in which client received a net payment from his former company Patrick D. Robbins
• Officers and employees of publicly traded companies accused of insider trading, revenue recognition and other accounting improprieties, before the SEC and DOJ, and in related civil actions, including
  • For the Controller of a public company investigated for his role in a $37 million restatement and 45% drop in the company’s market capitalization, a non-fraud settlement with SEC with a nominal penalty, and complete dismissal of shareholder class claims in federal court
  • For a China-based, publicly traded company de-listed from NASDAQ for alleged accounting improprieties, an injunction-only settlement with the SEC involving no monetary penalties
• Officers of biotechnology companies in civil and criminal Department of Justice investigations into allegedly improper drug marketing practices

Professional Affiliations

• President (2013), Federal Bar Association, Northern District of California Chapter
• Member, State Bar of California; American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section; International Bar Association, Business Crimes Section
• Member of Northern District of California Criminal Justice Act Panel, representing indigent federal criminal defendants
• Federal court-appointed civil case mediator and Early Neutral Evaluator, Northern District of California
• Leadership Council Member, Volunteer Legal Services Program, San Francisco Bar Association

Awards & Accolades

• Recognized by Chambers USA as a leading lawyer in Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations – California (2020-2022)

Selected Teaching and Speaking Engagements

• Faculty member, Trial Advocacy Program for the Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court at the Hague (2013, 2015, 2016)
• Faculty member, US Department of Justice/Department of State-sponsored trial advocacy program for Kenyan prosecutors; Nairobi, Kenya (August 2011)
• Moderator/Panelist, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer, The Ethics of Witness Preparation, Lake Tahoe, California (June 2011)
• Ethics and Compliance Officers Organization Conference, First 72 Hours of an Investigation, Seattle, Washington, (September 2011)
• Trial Advocacy Instructor, United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, along with a team of federal judges and U.S., French and UK practitioners; Arusha, Tanzania (November 2005 and March 2010)
• International Bar Association, 13^th Transnational Crime Conference:Cross-Border Bribery and Corruption Issues and the Role of Compliance:Paris, France (June 2010)
• ABA White Collar Crime Conference:Developments in Criminal Securities Fraud; San Francisco, California (March 2009)
• Cal Law Roundtable, Criminalization Of Noncompliance: How Do GC’s Protect Their Companies and Themselves?; San Francisco, California (October 2007)
• Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Compliance and Legal Division Conference, Document Destruction; Scottsdale, Arizona (March 2004) and Palm Desert, California (March 2005)
• Securities and Exchange Commission, National Enforcement Conference, DOJ/SEC Coordination Strategies; Washington, D.C. (April 2004)
• Department of Justice National Advocacy Center, Assistant Attorney General’s Panel on Prosecution of Corporations; Columbia, South Carolina (February 2004)
• Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy, Investigative Tactics in Criminal Securities Fraud Cases, Quantico, Virginia (April 2001)

Selected Publications

• White Collar Group Of The Year:Shearman & Sterling, Law360 (2014, 2016)
• Shearman & Sterling’s Patrick Robbins on West Coast White Collar, Corporate Crime Reporter, November 5, 2013
• Q&A:Patrick Robbins, Global Competition Review, December 4, 2013
• Criminalization Of Noncompliance: How Do GC’s Protect Their Companies and Themselves, GC Magazine, October 25, 2007
• Document Destruction and Obstruction of Justice:Why Arthur Andersen Doesn’t Matter, Journal of Investment Compliance, Vol. 6, No. 3 (January 2006)
• S.F. Fraud Chief Flies DOJ Coop for Shearman, The Recorder, July 8, 2004
• High Voltage Team: Investigators Will Seek Inside Wire on Who Rigged the Energy Crisis, San Francisco Chronicle, December 15, 2002
• Finding Wrongs, Through the Prism of Silicon Valley, The New York Times/International Herald Tribune, December 31, 2002