Four Member White-Collar Litigation Team Joins Pillsbury's DC Office

"We welcome Bill Sullivan and his white-collar team to Pillsbury as we continue to grow our litigation capabilities in the areas aligned with our industry focus and client needs and in tandem with our outstanding business and regulatory offerings. Most recently, this has included significant additions to our Construction Litigation and our Insurance Recovery practices, followed now by these key additions to our White-Collar team. These are all areas where we have been recognized as among the best in the nation according to third-party sources," said Pillsbury partner Jim Rishwain.

Ken Taber, co-head of Pillsbury's Firm-wide Litigation practice, pointed to the recent doubling of Pillsbury's insurance advisory and recovery team, and the tripling of the firm's construction disputes team, with the acquisition of 15 litigators from Howrey in early spring 2011.

"Now we have similarly broadened our highly effective white-collar team," Taber said. "With the increased focus on federal criminal enforcement efforts and a growing number of companies being investigated for FCPA violations and other alleged crimes, we very much wanted to further enhance our capabilities in Washington, DC. With this latest acquisition, we've now accomplished that goal."

Sullivan concentrates on corporate internal investigations and trial practice, with a special focus on fraud and corruption issues, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), False Claims Act and USA PATRIOT ACT matters, criminal antitrust, accounting improprieties, misleading financial disclosures and money laundering. He has also handled a variety of civil litigation matters, including antitrust, class action, securities regulation, broker-dealer regulation, product liability defense, whistleblower litigation, arbitration, and a wide range of commercial contract disputes.

Sullivan's current corporate representations include a criminal antitrust investigation involving price fixing allegations, a number of ongoing DOJ/SEC FCPA inquiries, a former Bush administration official regarding a Congressional appearance, as well as several securities and export control investigations. He has previously and successfully represented a former vice chairman of Enron Corporation; the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Global Crossing, Ltd. for an internal investigation; several officers of Freddie Mac concerning allegations of accounting irregularities; a multinational pharmaceutical company regarding alleged violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations; a prominent private equity firm concerning an SEC/DOJ parallel probe; the former comptroller of U.S. Foods in the Royal Ahold accounting fraud case; a former federal prosecutor charged with obstruction of justice, conspiracy and false statements who was acquitted of all counts after trial; a key officer of a Fortune 500 company regarding a DOJ FCPA investigation, and a petroleum and natural gas engineering company in a parallel DOJ/SEC FCPA investigation.

Prior to entering private practice, Sullivan served for more than 10 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he won over 70 federal criminal jury cases, and argued and prevailed in over 20 appeals in both the District of Columbia and New York. A graduate of Cornell University Law School, Sullivan currently serves on the ABA White Collar Crime Committee's Upjohn Warnings Task Force and is a faculty member at the University of Virginia's Trial Advocacy Institute. He has also lectured at the Department of Justice's Attorney General Advocacy Institute and the FBI Academy.

Derek Andreson, also a former federal prosecutor, focuses on corporate internal investigations and white-collar defense in response to criminal and civil probes by government regulators, including those involving allegations of fraud, international bribery, money laundering, insider trading, corruption, and conflicts of interest. He has substantial experience advising corporate clients on governance strategies involving the FCPA, mergers and acquisitions, and in response to shareholder derivative suits. He frequently represents officers and directors during federal grand jury investigations, and in parallel criminal, civil, and congressional proceedings.

From 2005 through 2009, Andreson served as an AUSA for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he was assigned to the Financial Fraud Unit. During his tenure, Andreson led numerous grand jury investigations and prosecuted several high-profile cases, including the prosecution of an Argentinean war criminal, the CEO of a privately held equity firm, and a number of international fraud rings. Prior to law school, Andreson served six years as a U.S. Navy SEAL assigned to the U.S. Special Operations Command.

About Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Pillsbury is a full-service law firm with a focus on the energy & natural resources, financial services, real estate & construction, and technology sectors. In addition to Pillsbury's industry approach, we help clients stay abreast of new opportunities or potential risks through issue-specific multidisciplinary teams centered around emerging legal and business trends. Clients turn to us for complex litigation, regulatory and corporate counsel in more than 50 jurisdictions around the world.