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Lanny Breuer
Lanny A. Breuer
Partner
Washington +1 202 662 5674 lbreuer@cov.com Download V-card
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Lanny A. Breuer, named by the National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America, is Covington’s Vice Chair and one of the leading trial and white collar defense attorneys in the United States. He specializes in helping clients navigate financial fraud investigations, anti-corruption matters, money laundering investigations, securities enforcement actions, cybercrime incidents, Congressional investigations, and other criminal and civil matters presenting complex regulatory, political, and public relations risks. He has been recognized by numerous national publications as one of the country's premier defense lawyers, including Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Legal 500, and Ethisphere, and he has successfully defended dozens of institutions and individuals in high-stakes criminal and civil matters. Mr. Breuer is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers.

From 2009-2013, Mr. Breuer served as Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he was widely acknowledged as a thought leader in the area of criminal law enforcement. For his work as the longest serving leader of the Criminal Division in recent history, Mr. Breuer received the Edmund J. Randolph Award for outstanding service, as well as numerous other accolades.

Mr. Breuer previously served as Special Counsel to President William Jefferson Clinton (1997-1999) and Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan (1985-1989).

  • Lead counsel for Hyperdynamics Corporation in FCPA investigations by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • Lead counsel for global financial institution facing FCPA investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • Lead counsel for global consumer product company facing FCPA investigations by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • Lead counsel for global pharmaceutical company facing FCPA investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • Lead counsel for various corporations and individuals facing sensitive inquiries and investigations by the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, World Bank, and others.
  • Counsel to pitcher Roger Clemens in connection with Congressional investigation.
  • Lead counsel for former National Security Advisor Samuel Berger in an investigation of documents at the National Archives.
  • Lead counsel for the former Minister of Atomic Energy for Russian Presidents Yeltsin and Putin in a case alleging theft of tens of millions of dollars.
  • Represented the Special Litigation Committee of the Hewlett Packard Board of Directors.
  • Represented many major corporations before Congress, including a leading Internet company in a hearing concerning its foreign business activities, major pharmaceutical companies targeted in oversight investigations, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in a national security investigation, and a large Wall Street firm in the Enron hearing.
  • Represented leading telecommunications investors in a billion-dollar False Claims Act lawsuit.
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Pro Bono

  • Handled one of the longest contested adoption trials in DC Superior Court, and the subsequent appeal.

Memberships and Affiliations

  • American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow
  • Transparency International - USA, Board Member
  • Columbia Law School Board of Governors, Member
  • The Washington DC Police Foundation, Board Member
  • American Law Institute, Member
  • Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court, Master Emeritus
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Member (Presidential appointee) (1999-2004), Committee on Conscience, Member (1999-2009)

Previous Experience

Mr. Breuer served from 2009-2013 as Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. As one of the longest-serving Criminal Division chiefs in history, Mr. Breuer oversaw nearly 600 lawyers at the center of federal criminal prosecution, policy, and legislation in the United States. In his role as Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Breuer was widely recognized as a national leader on a range of federal law enforcement priorities, including financial fraud, money laundering, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, health care fraud, cybercrime, intellectual property theft, and public corruption.

While at the Justice Department, Mr. Breuer spearheaded the publication of the Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which stands as the definitive guidance document from the United States government regarding its enforcement of the FCPA. Mr. Breuer also oversaw numerous prosecutions that set new benchmarks across a host of enforcement areas, including anti-corruption, money laundering, health care fraud, and cybercrime.

For his work as Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Breuer received the Edmund J. Randolph Award for outstanding service, the highest award the Attorney General can bestow on a Department employee. He also ranked sixth on Ethisphere’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics internationally and was named by the National Law Journal as one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.

Prior to his service at the Justice Department, Mr. Breuer co-chaired the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group.

From 1997-1999, Mr. Breuer served as Special Counsel to President William Jefferson Clinton, representing the White House in investigations by the Independent Counsel, Department of Justice, and Congress, and defending President Clinton in impeachment proceedings.

From 1985-1989, Mr. Breuer served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan.

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  • Named to the National Law Journal’s inaugural list of 50 Governance Risk & Compliance Trailblazers & Pioneers (2014)
  • Ethisphere Magazine, Attorneys Who Matter (2014-2016)
  • Washington D.C. Super Lawyers, Criminal Defense: White Collar (2014-2017); Named to "Top 100 Washington D.C. Area Super Lawyers" (2016)
  • Benchmark Litigation, White Collar Crime Local Litigation Star - DC and US (2015)
  • Chambers USA, FCPA and White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations (2014-2017) and Litigation (2006-2008)
  • Chambers Global, FCPA (2015-2017)
  • Chambers Latin America, Fraud & Corporate Investigations (2017) 
  • Legal 500 US, White Collar Criminal Defense (2007-2008, 2014-2017), Litigation: Securities - Shareholder Information (2015), and Antitrust - Cartel (2017) 
  • Who's Who Legal - Named a "Thought Leader" in WWL: Investigations, an in-depth report by Who’s Who Legal and Global Investigations Review (2018) 
  • Who’s Who Legal, Investigations (2016-2017)
  • Washington Lawyer, "Top 100 Attorneys In Washington D.C." (2017)
  • National Law Journal, 100 Most Influential Lawyers (2013)
  • Washingtonian, Criminal Defense White Collar "Top Lawyer" (2015 and 2013)
  • Sixth on Ethisphere’s 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics internationally (2012)
  • National Law Journal, named a "Visionary" in the Washington, DC legal community (2010)
  • Washingtonian, named one of thirty “Big Guns,” the top lawyers in Washington (2007)
  • American Lawyer, Top 45 private lawyers under the age of 45 in the United States (2003)

Practices

Education

Columbia Law School, J.D., 1985

  • Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar

Columbia University, B.A., 1980

Government Service

  • U.S. Department of Justice
  • White House
  • New York County District Attorney’s Office

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • New York