Lynn A Neils

Lynn Neils is a partner in the firm’s New York office and a member of the White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice Group. Her practice focuses on white collar criminal defense, corporate compliance and internal investigations, regulatory enforcement matters and complex commercial litigation. Ms. Neils served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and the District of New Jersey. During her more than 11 years as an Assistant United States Attorney, Ms. Neils worked on a wide variety of cases, including securities fraud, accounting fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, health care fraud, art fraud, insurance fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, US sanctions and obstruction of justice matters. In 2004, she was promoted to Chief of the Major Crimes Unit in the SDNY where she supervised approximately 20 senior Assistant United States Attorneys in handling the investigation and prosecution of a wide variety of complex white collar cases. For several years, Ms. Neils also served a Senior Counsel at Johnson & Johnson and was responsible for handling a large caseload of criminal and civil matters; conducting internal investigations; advising on compliance and regulatory matters, including those related to the FCPA; and conducting training of employees on regulatory and legal matters, including those related to the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws and regulations. REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS Engaged by a Fortune 500 Life Sciences company to coordinate the investigation of suspected FCPA violations in India, Ukraine, China and Brazil, and to advise the company’s Internal Audit Department on conducting FCPA audits to ensure compliance. Engaged to represent several current and former employees of a Life Sciences company under investigation for alleged violations of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Engaged by a large Hong Kong trading company to give advice related to the FCPA in connection with the negotiation of an agency agreement. Engaged by a former analyst for a Hedge Fund in connection with an SEC investigation into alleged market manipulation and insider trading. Engaged by a large public Financial Services company to conduct an internal investigation into alleged accounting irregularities. Represented a large electronics company in an internal investigation into allegations it assisted a public company in falsely inflating its sales numbers. More Representative Matters PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York (SDNY) and The District of New Jersey, Assistant United States Attorney; Southern District of New York (SDNY), Chief of the Major Crimes Unit Johnson & Johnson, Senior Counsel MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS American Bar Association Member of the White Collar Crime Committee of the Business Law Section Co-Chief, Securities Fraud Subcommittee Association of the Bar of the City of New York Member of the Committee on the Judiciary (2002-2005) Federal Bar Council Lecturer at Rutgers Business School on Criminal Law and the FCPA (2007-2009) PUBLICATIONS AND SPEECHES "Anti-Corruption 2012 Year in Review," Covington Advisory (February 2013), Co-Author "An Analysis of the FCPA Resource Guide," Covington Advisory (November 2012), Co-Author "Preventing Third Party Misconduct: Auditing and Monitoring Strategies Based on Type of Risk and Third Party," ACI’s 26th National Conference on the FCPA (Washington, DC, November 2011)