McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

Effective anticorruption compliance is critical to any company operating internationally. We regularly conduct internal investigations of reported concerns under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-bribery laws to determine the veracity of allegations and to advise companies on responding effectively, including taking steps to reduce opportunities for future misconduct. We also defend companies and individuals in government enforcement and regulatory investigations by authorities in the United States and other countries.

We leverage our investigations and defense experience to assist clients in developing effective compliance programs and with appropriate compliance policies, procedures and training designed to enhance rather than disrupt business operations. We conduct global compliance risk assessments to help our clients make informed decisions on how to allocate compliance resources. We assist clients in conducting anticorruption due diligence and drafting strong contracts in cross-border deals and engagements of third-party representatives in order to mitigate the significant anticorruption risks those relationships present.

Our team includes former senior lawyers from the US Department of Justice (DOJ), US attorneys' offices and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and individuals with deep in-house compliance, computer forensics and accounting experience, who collaborate to provide clients with the multidisciplinary experience and counsel that anticorruption matters often require.

Transactions can strengthen your business by helping you access capital, pursue growth opportunities, and enter new markets – but they also carry risks that can have lasting consequences. Our corporate and transactional lawyers structure transactions that drive growth while managing legal, regulatory, and commercial exposure.

Our lawyers collaborate across offices worldwide to provide coordinated counsel on domestic and cross-border transactions. Our corporate law practice guides you through commercial agreements, mergers and acquisitions, financings, restructurings, and governance matters designed to support your business strategy.

We also advise on sophisticated capital formation and investment structures, including capital raises, PIPE transactions, SPAC-related matters, and other strategic financing arrangements that provide flexible access to capital in evolving markets.

Beyond execution, our corporate and transactional lawyers address the challenges that shape long-term deal success, including:

• Post-merger integration and reorganizations
• Cross-border governance and operating structures
• Commercial contracts and change-of-control issues
• Intellectual property and asset organization
• Tax, treasury, and operational continuity planning
• Workforce and benefits integration
• Legacy liabilities and dispute exposure

Managing a large volume of transactions can quickly become resource intensive. Our technology-enabled transactional legal services team combines sophisticated AI review tools with experienced transactional lawyers to streamline due diligence, contract negotiation, and contract management – helping you scale quality and consistency across a high volume of matters.

From capital formation to post-closing integration, we help you navigate transactions strategically while managing the legal and operational issues that impact business performance. Our lawyers structure and execute deals that mitigate risk and support long-term growth.

Data gives businesses the power to make informed decisions and compete more effectively – but collecting, storing, and using data can result in legal and regulatory exposure. Our cybersecurity lawyers help you navigate that risk while supporting the strategic use of data to enhance your business operations.

We advise on all aspects of data, privacy, and cybersecurity, from developing compliance frameworks and implementing defensible security standards to counseling on product development, AI integration, digital marketing, and data monetization strategies. We also help clients navigate cross-border data transfers, incident response and data breach matters, investigations, regulatory scrutiny, and litigation.

Privacy, cybersecurity, and data governance issues touch every part of your business. Our cybersecurity lawyers collaborate across key practice areas including technology, transactions, litigation, employment, investigations, and regulatory to address risk wherever it arises. The team also includes engineers and computer coders, former in-house counsel, and former senior government officials, including cybercrime prosecutors.

Our lawyers helped shape major privacy frameworks – including the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We also advise on other evolving state, federal, and international privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the e-Privacy regulation, and sector-specific requirements.

We work with you to assess cybersecurity maturity, identify gaps, and develop tailored risk mitigation strategies. When incidents occur, we help you respond to data breaches, ransomware attacks, insider threats, and other cybersecurity incidents with a focus on limiting business disruption and financial exposure. Our cybersecurity lawyers also guide you through sensitive investigations, regulatory scrutiny, litigation, and other disputes that arise from the misuse, loss, or theft of data.

Managing the legal and regulatory exposure associated with data use has become more complex as technologies advance and cyber threats become more sophisticated. We help you mitigate data, privacy, and cybersecurity risk through integrated strategies designed to protect your business, advance innovation, and support growth.

Government investigations and enforcement actions are among the most consequential matters a company or individual can face – they can be detrimental to your business, leadership, and reputation. From prevention through defense, our lawyers help you navigate government scrutiny, partnering with you to manage risk in high-stakes investigations, enforcement actions, and parallel proceedings.

Our white-collar defense and government investigations team includes dozens of former senior officials from key US enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). We instinctively understand how these agencies operate, allowing us to anticipate government strategies and shape yours accordingly.

Our global team of more than 60 lawyers defends companies, boards of directors, executives, and senior leaders in complex white-collar defense and investigations – including parallel proceedings across multiple venues:

• Government investigations (criminal and civil)
• Internal investigations and board-led inquiries
• Regulatory enforcement actions and proceedings (federal, state, and international)
• Criminal and civil defense and proceedings
• Cross-border and multi-jurisdictional matters
• Compliance and risk management

We coordinate across agencies and jurisdictions to ensure a consistent, strategic defense, helping to reduce risk, avoid conflicting positions, and strengthen outcomes.

Our team also brings deep experience in emerging and highly regulated areas, including healthcare and digital assets like cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). We help you navigate the nuanced regulatory frameworks that govern these sectors.

To stay ahead of potential investigations and enforcement actions, our lawyers work with you to strengthen compliance programs and identify risks early. Through internal investigations, responses to government inquiries and disclosures, and ongoing advisory support, we help you build processes designed to reduce enforcement exposure.

Our white-collar defense and government investigations team combines insider perspective with practical, business-focused guidance. We guide you through consequential government scrutiny, helping you mitigate risk, manage uncertainty, preserve business continuity, and protect your reputation.

We help navigate the extremely complex and constantly evolving landscape of export and import controls. We also assist in risk mapping and due diligence related to trade controls issues, including reporting requirements around mergers and acquisitions. Leading private equity houses seek our strategic advice on export controls, particularly regarding software, technology, and national security elements. Additionally, we represent clients in applying for export licenses.

We provide advice on classification, valuation, duty assessment (including treatment under the full range of duty preference programs), country of origin and marking, user-fee assessment, bond and warehouse matters, drawback, Foreign Trade Zones, bonded warehousing in the US, the UK, and the EU, as well as on quotas, regulatory restrictions on food, drugs and other products, exclusion and seizure of merchandise, regulatory audits, and resolution of alleged customs violations. We routinely assist clients in conducting internal audits and reviews, preparing compliance programs, and implementing compliance policies.

We assist clients facing regulatory investigations or prosecutions concerning sanctions and other regulatory breaches, including approaching authorities and negotiating settlements. We often intervene as sanctions and export controls advisors in the context of ongoing litigation and arbitration proceedings in the US, the UK, and the EU. Together with lawyers in the firm’s industry-leading white-collar and government investigations practice, we represent clients on anticorruption and anti-money-laundering laws, including the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act, as well as related laws of EU Member States, including those implementing the EU Whistleblower Directive.

We have extensive experience advising on national security-related matters in connection with the cybersecurity, telecommunications, defense, and aeronautics industries. We also advise clients in assessing their compliance with the CFIUS, the UK National Security and Investment Act, and the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation, and obtaining clearances from US, UK, or EU regulatory authorities. Additionally, we represent numerous companies from the telecommunications, defense, and aeronautics industries before various US, UK, and EU administrative bodies.

We advise on any legislation impacting global trade and global supply chains, including EU and UK chemical legislation and product safety and liability rules, such as the recently implemented EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and EU Deforestation Regulation. Our product compliance practice also includes ongoing counsel and representation of clients before US Customs and Border Protection and the national customs authorities of other countries, including the UK and EU Member States.

We have a sophisticated and deeply entrenched understanding of economic sanctions and their impact on our clients’ businesses and industries. We assist in managing compliance risks in the context of conflicting sanctions and blocking statutes across multiple jurisdictions. Our broad experience includes assessing potential risks associated with contracts, relationships, or proposed business ventures, including in relation to sanctions and export controls. We also conduct due diligence, draft and negotiate appropriate contractual protections, and establish operational, compliance, and auditing protocols. Our team helps draft and implement compliance policies and is often sought after to provide sanctions compliance training to our clients’ senior management, boards of directors, and employees.

US sanctions: In recent years, the US has significantly expanded its sanctions, particularly targeting Russia and Iran. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued numerous designations and substantial penalties for noncompliance with US sanctions against multiple major corporations. Additionally, the US has introduced new measures to counter sanctions evasion, specifically in the context of trade with China. Our US team helps major corporations and other business entities with all issues relating to US sanctions.

EU sanctions: The EU has been equally proactive, extending its packages of sanctions against Russia in response to the ongoing war in Ukraine in an unprecedented way. The EU has also intensified efforts to prevent sanctions circumvention, with increased enforcement and international cooperation to ensure the effectiveness of these measures. With local offices in key Member States, our team is well-positioned to advise on these developments, helping clients navigate the evolving regulatory landscape. Additionally, our well-established connections with Member State regulators enable us to provide timely and accurate insights, ensuring that our clients are always informed about the latest regulatory changes and compliance requirements.

UK sanctions: Following Brexit, the UK introduced a sanctions regime that is separate from EU sanctions. Additionally, the UK government has established the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation to enhance the enforcement of financial and trade sanctions, reflecting a more robust approach to sanctions compliance and enforcement. We provide invaluable advice on these sanctions, ensuring that our clients remain compliant and up to date with all recent developments.

Working with senior levels of government and the US Congress, we routinely help clients resolve trade policy concerns that impede the timely flow of goods through ports and across borders. We have highly regarded trade capabilities in the agribusiness and beverage sectors, as well as in numerous other industries across US commerce.

In conjunction with our Food, Beverage & Agribusiness Group, we have played a key role in free trade agreements (FTAs) involving the US, the EU, Canada, China, and other countries. We help clients navigate the complex maze of FTA agreements around the globe and provide broad-ranging counsel on the trade effects and supply-chain implications of bilateral and regional regimes.

We also have substantial experience in virtually all areas of World Trade Organization law. We have litigated major cases before the WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, particularly in cases involving agricultural commodities interests. Among other highlights, we acted as lead counsel in the long-running dispute over Europe’s banana import regime, often called “the trade case of the decade.”

Our lawyers have successfully represented producers, exporters, importers, and domestic industries in antidumping, countervailing duty, safeguards, unfair import practices, unfair export practices, and other proceedings related to Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, the EU and individual EU Member States, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and other countries. These cases have involved products in virtually every industry, including electronics, telecommunications, steel and metals, chemicals, apparel and textiles, automotive parts, agricultural goods and food, and energy and commodities. We regularly prepare and present oral and written testimony, questionnaire responses, briefs, and written comments in administrative trade proceedings and judicial and agency investigations.