Michael Asaro, Charles Connolly Talk White Collar Defense with CCBJ

Corporate Counsel Business Journal interviewed Akin Gump litigation partners Michael Asaro and Charles Connolly on their experiences as federal prosecutors and, now, in private practice defending clients in white collar criminal matters. The article is titled “Seeing From Both Sides of the Table.”

Among the topics covered:

• How public service informs one’s practice: “It is critical to being a successful white collar partner in this space. Having spent a decade putting together complex financial crimes, from investigation, to charging, and ultimately for presentation to the jury, I understand the thinking of a prosecutor.”
• Changes in white collar crime since 2000: “There’s been an ever increasingly aggressive practice of government enforcement, and the fines have gotten bigger. I remember seeing a $1 billion fine for the first time – that was a watershed moment – and now fines of hundreds of millions of dollars are par for the course.”
• Increased white collar prosecution: “In a typical life cycle of white collar enforcement, you tend to see an increase in enforcement after periods of economic distress, so I do think an increase in white collar matters will come out of the current economic distress the country is facing.”
• Advice for new GCs: “Know your business. It is how you identify what your weak points are from a compliance perspective.”

To read the full interview, click here.