James draws on his experience as a federal prosecutor to advise corporations, boards of directors and individual executives on their most critical and sensitive matters, including those involving the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, anti-bribery laws, healthcare fraud and theft of trade secrets.

After launching his career as an associate at McDermott, James spent seven years at the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois before returning to the Firm. While in the Office, James led a variety of investigations and prosecutions and spent years working on and ultimately supervising a sprawling and high-profile investigation into public corruption that resulted in numerous convictions of elected and public officials.

James has significant experience handling cases involving all varieties of fraud, including healthcare fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud, insurance fraud and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He has conducted internal investigations across many industries—experience he uses to advise clients not only how to respond to government and regulatory investigations, but also how to avoid them.

Prior to joining the US Attorney’s Office, James clerked for Judge Amy J. St. Eve at the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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• Successfully persuaded DOJ to take no action in False Claims Act investigation of billing practices for hospital system
• Obtained complete dismissal of putative class action lawsuit alleging deceptive and unlawful billing practices on behalf of a large hospital system
• Defended and obtained favorable settlements for a publicly-traded medical device manufacturer in product liability litigation

Investigations

• Investigation of allegations of improper benefits conferred by executive of hospital system
• Investigation of physician employee’s workplace misconduct for nationwide physician practice management company
• Conducted diligence for private equity investors in prospective healthcare transactions
• Investigated the mishandling of a significant investment for religious institution and obtained return of investment
• Investigated and prosecuted international drug cartel leaders at the highest levels in cooperation with foreign law enforcement leaders*

Fraud and Cyber Matters

• Investigated theft of trade secrets for Fortune 200 company and obtained temporary restraining orders and return of all stolen information
• Investigated and prosecuted foreign hacker for complex cloud-based computer intrusion and data theft of multiple financial services companies *
• Successfully persuaded the Securities and Exchange Commission to take no action against trader in investigation regarding allegations of securities pricing manipulation
• Investigated and prosecuted wide-ranging public corruption scheme that resulted in the convictions of multiple Illinois State Senators, an Illinois State Representative, a Cook County Commissioner, multiple suburban mayors, public officials and business leaders*
• Successfully represented an individual plaintiff in American Arbitration Association proceeding on claims of fraud, civil conspiracy and legal malpractice

Individual Representation

• Successfully persuaded the DOJ to take no action against individual corporate executive in federal compliance fraud investigation
• Successfully persuaded the DOJ to take no action against individual company employee in federal DBE fraud investigation

*Matter handled prior to joining the firm.

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Pilar advises on a wide range of issues, including:

• Online Safety Act / DSA governance: Recently advised on cross-jurisdictional assessments for major digital platforms (including large social and immersive-content providers) on the UK Online Safety Act and EU Digital Services Act, focusing on practical implementation and regulator-readiness.
• Management-body accountability: Advised on Board and senior-leadership responsibility frameworks, including Ofcom-style “duty of care” mapping, internal reporting structures, and accountability statements for global tech companies.
• Risk-assessment frameworks: Designed and operationalized systemic risk-assessment models integrating OSA and DSA transparency-law obligations, ensuring interoperability and proportionality across jurisdictions.
• Content governance and safety management: Supported the creation of safety management plans, risk registers, and escalation workflows aligned with both Ofcom and DSA transparency expectations.
• Cross-regulatory insight: Experience bridging privacy, online safety, and AI governance to align compliance strategies multiple jurisdictions
• Cybersecurity Governance: Developing and implementing frameworks to comply with international regulations and protect critical assets.
• Incident and Data Breach Management: Guiding organizations through data security incidents, from investigation to reporting and mitigation.
• Privacy and Product Compliance: Ensuring data protection by design in new product launches and ongoing operations.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Providing comprehensive advice on AI governance, risk assessment, and compliance with evolving regulations.
• Digital Regulation Compliance: Offering strategic counsel on compliance with the Digital Services Act, Data Act, NIS 2 Directive, and other key regulations.

Pilar could also cover:

• Initial legal and governance assessment for obligations under the UK OSA and DSA frameworks
• Evaluation of management-body oversight and accountability, including Board-level duties and internal governance structures.
• Design of a cross-jurisdictional risk-analysis and mitigation framework, covering systemic risk, content moderation, child safety, and transparency.
• Development or refinement of core compliance documentation (risk registers, accountability statements, transparency reports, Board briefings and training to management bodies).
• Gap analysis and enhancement recommendations for existing online-safety and trust-and-safety processes.
• Executive workshop or tabletop exercise to prepare for Ofcom or EU regulator engagement.

Before joining McDermott, Pilar gained invaluable experience at a top-tier international law firm specializing in data and technology, further strengthening her ability to deliver practical solutions to her clients.

Pilar also maintains an active pro bono practice, assisting organizations with their cybersecurity, data protection, AI, and broader compliance needs.

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• Provided strategic counsel to a leading e-commerce company during a regulatory investigation following a data security incident. Expertly navigated the investigation process and engaged with regulators, resulting in a favourable outcome, avoiding severe penalties, and ensuring future compliance.
• Advised a major cloud services provider on a multijurisdictional data breach, leading the incident response and ensuring timely and compliant notifications to regulators and affected individuals in over 20 countries. This coordination was crucial for consistency in minimizing operational disruption and legal exposure.
• Counseled a multinational AI company on the development of governance frameworks and risk assessments for its AI solutions, ensuring compliance with the latest EU and UK AI regulations. Guided the company to integrate AI technologies responsibly and in line with regulatory expectations.
• Conducted comprehensive PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) training for a China-based payment processor, equipping their teams with the necessary knowledge and tools to achieve compliance. This training was instrumental in strengthening the company’s payment data security and avoiding potential penalties.
• Assisted a global pharmaceutical company in ensuring data protection compliance across multiple jurisdictions during clinical trials. Developed and reviewed informed consent forms, ensured GDPR compliance, and advised on data sharing agreements, facilitating smooth trial processes and compliance with complex regulatory requirements.
• Provided strategic advice on international data transfers, including drafting and negotiating international data transfer agreements to ensure compliance with GDPR and other international data protection laws.
• Assisted in the transfer of patient records during the sale of a hospital, ensuring that the data was handled securely and in full compliance with GDPR and other relevant regulations, safeguarding patient privacy throughout the transaction.
• Developed and implemented global data retention policies and frameworks for a multinational corporation, ensuring compliance with various international regulations while optimizing data management and reducing legal risks.
• Provided strategic advice to medical device manufacturers on data protection for sensitive health data, including drafting robust privacy policies and managing regulatory communications to ensure compliance with global privacy laws.

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• Advised EPAM Systems, Inc. on all aspects of its acquisition of the website testing business test IO GmbH, including its U.S. subsidiary test IO, Inc.*
• Advised a Dutch private equity investor on sale of a South African foundry business to German truck manufacturer*
• Provides ongoing compliance advice to Germany-based global market leader in the fields of dialysis products and dialysis services (DAX-listed)*
• Provides ongoing corporate and commercial law advice to one of the leading manufacturers of copper wires and aluminium products in Europe*
• Advises international start-up business in the beverages industry on set-up of its business activities in various countries worldwide*
• Advised Helmut Rothenberger Group on acquisition of an investment shareholding in Leistritz AG*
• Advises Avis Budget on all German corporate and commercial matters including several acquisition of rental stations*
• Advised Chargepoint, Inc. on various corporate law matters and with regard to its business roll-out in Europe*
• Advised a leading company specializing in the operation of computer data centers and provision of internet connection services on several acquisitions and with regard to general corporate law matters*
• Advised a global real estate investment company on acquisitions and with regard to corporate law matters*
•  Advised owners of Butsch Meier Group on sale to Kiloutou Group*

*Matter handled prior to joining the firm.

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• Advising SAP on antitrust aspects of its acquisition of SmartRecruiters
• Advised a provider of voiceover IP products on its $250 million acquisition of a cloud communications software platform*
• Advised a multinational corporation on its $7.8 billion sale of an 80.1% stake in one of its divisions to another multinational conglomerate*
• Advised a multinational medical technology company on its $12.2 billion acquisition of a medical corporation*
• Advised a transport and logistics company on its $4.2 billion acquisition of a global integrated logistics business*
• Advised an investment management firm on the $12.5 billion business combination of a number of its divisions*
• Advised a pulp and paper company on its acquisition of two packaging businesses in Europe*
• Advised a chemicals company on its $2.5 billion acquisition of a global corporation*
• Advised a global technology investor on its acquisition of European companies*

*Matter handled prior to joining the firm.

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David skillfully handles all aspects of a lawsuit for his clients, including pre-suit investigations, e-discovery, taking and defending fact and expert depositions, summary judgment and Markman proceedings, presenting and cross-examining witnesses at trial, and appeal. David has represented both petitioners and patent owners in numerous post-grant trials at the PTAB, including all stages of the case from finding prior art through arguing at hearings. His comprehensive IP practice also covers transactions, including negotiating license agreements.

In addition to his IP practice, David is actively involved in pro bono work. His pro bono docket includes representing veterans before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

During law school, David was the chief articles editor of the Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal.

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• Represented one of the world’s leading flash memory manufacturers against patent infringement claims involving five patents related to memory devices, including at district court and PTAB*
• Represented a pharmaceutical company in a Hatch-Waxman lawsuit concerning diabetes treatment; the case settled on favorable terms on the morning of trial*
• Represented a wireless carrier in a patent infringement action relating to ringtones and to Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) technology, which settled on favorable terms*
• Represented a technology company accused of fraud and breach of contract relating to nanowires; the case settled on favorable terms after summary judgment briefing*
• Represented a television manufacturer in a patent infringement investigation relating to timing circuits and bond-pad layout before the ITC; the case settled on favorable terms*
• Represented one of the world’s leading flash memory manufacturers against patent infringement claims involving twelve patents relating to flash memory chips, memory systems, semiconductor processes, and chip packaging patents; after a favorable ruling on the issue of patent exhaustion, all claims were dismissed in federal circuit appeal*
• Represented a national data provider in a patent infringement action involving compression of financial market data, in which all asserted claims were held to be invalid or not infringed; the Federal Circuit affirmed the trial court’s summary judgment rulings*
• Represented a technology company in patent infringement action involving Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 3G mobile communications technology*
• Represented sporting goods manufacturer in a patent infringement action; the case settled on favorable terms shortly after Markman briefing was concluded*
• Tried a patent infringement investigation relating to wind turbine clean-energy technology on behalf of the patentee, a Fortune 50 company, before the ITC; the administrative law judge found a violation of two of the three patents-in-suit and found that the third patent-in-suit was both infringed and valid*
• Represented a group of online retailers accused of infringement of a patent related to real-time transactions occurring over the web based on a variety of web-based transactions, including the online purchase of products and/or services using the retailers’ e-commerce platforms. The matter was settled after the filing of a petition at the PTAB for covered business method (CBM) review*

*Matter handled prior to joining the firm.

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DC is frequently retained in founder and ownership disputes involving closely held companies, including buyouts, partner exits and expulsions, and governance and control fights. He also represents fund managers, investment advisers, healthcare professionals, and other clients in bet-the-company commercial and securities litigation matters.

DC brings significant depth in cryptocurrency matters, representing crypto investors, asset managers, mining companies, and data center operators in litigation and investigations, including matters involving government agencies. His industry experience spans private equity, fintech, consumer products, asset management, technology, and healthcare.

A seasoned litigator, DC has conducted jury trials, arbitrations, and appeals, and he helps clients resolve disputes through mediation when that approach best serves business objectives. He has extensive deposition experience and routinely takes and defends sensitive depositions of key witnesses and senior executives at both private and public companies. DC also regularly represents clients with litigation matters in Washington state and federal courts.

Before joining McDermott Will & Schulte, DC served as a law clerk to the Honorable John C. Coughenour in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington.

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• Defended a public company in a shareholder lawsuit seeking to enjoin $1.2 billion merger
• Represented a high-net-worth investor in a lawsuit alleging that venture capital fund managers engaged in securities fraud and breached their fiduciary duties
• Represented a leading American insurance company in a securities class action concerning auto insurance claims frequency information
• Represented the CEO of large, privately held consumer goods company in complex corporate governance and shareholder litigation
• Represented victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud seeking to recover funds in a civil case with parallel criminal proceeding
• Represents the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Voyager Digital Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded crypto company, in connection with an investigation of potential claims
• Represents crypto asset management firm pursuing federal securities claims against liquidity pool operators in connection with market manipulation scheme
• Represented an investment research firm in connection with cryptocurrency purchaser’s claims that the client committed securities fraud and sold unregistered securities*
• Defended a publicly traded electric vehicle company and individual executives from a founder’s lawsuit alleging a controlling interest in the company and obtained total summary judgment on the merits*
• Represented a former cryptocurrency company executive in responding to an SEC subpoena investigating the alleged sale of unregistered securities*
• Represented the chief executive officer of a large health care provider in responding to an SEC subpoena in an insider trading investigation*
• Represented publicly traded REITs in securities fraud and shareholder derivative class actions*
• Represented a medical clinic in a private arbitration in which former shareholders alleged securities fraud in connection with a clinic acquisition*
• Represented a global pesticide company and its subsidiary in asserting securities fraud and fiduciary duty claims against the subsidiary’s former executive team related to self-dealing scheme*
• Argued before the Washington Court of Appeals on behalf of victims of an online harassment campaign and won affirmance of a large jury verdict in a complex internet stalking*
• Represented the State of Washington in two separate jury trials for felony burglary and felony vehicular assault*
• Argued before the Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board and obtained commutation of the client’s life sentence imposed under Washington’s three-strikes law for “note-passing” bank robberies*
• Represented domestic violence survivors at numerous hearings in the Superior Courts of King County, Washington, Snohomish County, Washington and the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois*

*Matter handled prior to joining the firm.

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Nate has experience across a variety of industries, including healthcare, life sciences, energy, IT services, automotive, telecommunications, sports and entertainment, manufacturing, and business services.

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• Represented a leading international high-technology group in the aerospace and defense markets, in its cross-border purchase of an avionics and information technology systems actuator business (Aerospace)*
• Represented a multinational logistics company, in its sale to a leasing, shipping, logistics and port services company (Logistics/Transportation)*
• Represented private equity fund and its portfolio company, a leader in synthetic shingles manufacturing for residential housing and commercial building markets, in its sale to a building manufacturer company (Manufacturing)*
• Represented the fourth largest beef packer in the United States and a market leader in value-added beef, in its strategic purchase of a beef packing company specializing in Black Angus beef (Agriculture)*
• Represented a global leader in advanced medical technology, in its acquisition of two custom seating business lines in the United States and Canada (Manufacturing)*
• Represented a leader in parcel shipping intelligence, in its acquisition of a software company (Software/Technology)*
• Represented a management technology provider for retirement plan advisors, in its sale to a fiduciary education, training and technology firm (Software/Technology)*
• Represented a leading private investment firm focused on energy infrastructure investments, in multiple transactions involving its sale of solar project companies across the United States (Solar)*
• Represented a full-service, clean-energy company providing complete turnkey solar project implementation, in its acquisition of multiple project companies across the United States (Energy)*

*Matter handled prior to McDermott

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• Advised a Swiss chemical group on the improvement of their compliance management system in Germany as well as the international integration*
• Advised Aurin Capital on various investments*
• Advised various companies on internal investigations*
• Advised PreCapital on the acquisition of bakery chain*
• Advised Ardan Livvey on various M&A projects*

*Matters handled prior to joining the firm.

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• JUVE Handbook of Commercial Law Firms, Recommended, Compliance Investigations, 2023-2026
• JUVE Handbook of Commercial Law Firms, “Leading Names”: Compliance Audits and Investigations as well as Recommended: Corporate Law, 2014-2022
• WirtschaftsWoche, “Top Lawyer for Compliance”, 2019-2020

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• Advised a market-leading acquirer and manager of consumer debt on the acquisitions of three separate financial entities*
• Advised a Chinese shipping and port company, on the acquisition of a 67% stake in a port in southeast Greece as part of the Hellenic Republic’s high profile privatisation programme, in a transaction valued in excess of US$1 billion*
• Advised a leading Korean pharmaceutical company on the English law aspects of its long-term strategic collaboration partnership with a Japanese pharmaceutical company with respect to biosimilars*
• Advised an Irish telecommunications company on the sale of a majority stake in a provider of secure communications to the Garda and emergency services, at an enterprise value of €130 million*
• Advised an Irish telecommunications company on the €300 million sale of a portfolio of 650 telecoms towers, to a wireless infrastructure company and the associated long term master services agreement*
• Advised an Irish telecommunications company on a new partnership to create a dedicated fibre company, focused on the deployment of fibre-to-the-home across the Republic of Ireland*
• Advised a serviced offices company on the proposed merger with a flexible workspace company to create the premier flexible workspace company in the UK and Europe*
• Advised a stock brokerage firm and investment bank based in Hong Kong on its recommended cash acquisition of a Tokyo-listed investment company, which was affected by means of a UK Scheme of Arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006*
• Advised a large South Korean business conglomerate on its US$300 million investment in a UK-based low earth orbit satellite communications company*
• Advised a European telecommunications provider on the €260 million acquisition of a leading Cypriot mobile phone operator*
• Advised a European telecommunications provider on the €250 million acquisition of a Maltese mobile phone operator*
• Advised a French telecommunications company on the €3.2 billion acquisition of a leading Irish telecommunications company *
• Advised a Swiss telecommunications provider on the CHF 0.8 billion (€0.7 billion) sale of a 90% equity interest in the company owning their passive mobile infrastructure in Switzerland to a Spanish tower operator and the associated long-term master services agreement*
• Advised a Swiss telecommunications provider on the €135 million sale of a 10% stake in a mobile infrastructure operator*
• Advised a South Korean multinational electronics corporation on its US$310 million acquisition of the handset connectivity and location development operations from a multinational fabless semiconductor company and the related subscription by them for a 4.9% equity stake in the company*
• Advised a South Korean multinational electronics corporation on its acquisition of a Swedish developer of ultra-low-power Wireless LAN chipsets for high-speed wireless access in mobile phones*
• Advised the owner of China’s largest publicly-traded meat processing enterprise in a US$7.1 billion agreement to acquire the largest US publicly-traded pork processor and hog producer*
• Advised a specialist energy investment firm on its investments into various companies*
• Advised an energy investment firm on the formation of an investment platform established as a Cayman segregated portfolio company which provides growth capital to energy companies*
• Advised management of a fire and gas safety solutions company on the US$480 million sale of the company to an American multinational conglomerate corporation*

*Matter handled prior to joining McDermott

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