Called “one of the superstars in white collar litigation and investigations,” with “immense standing in the field” by Chambers, Mike Shepard is a Fellow and former Regent of the American College of Trial Lawyers.  He is a highly accomplished former federal prosecutor with extensive experience, skill and success in white-collar criminal defense, trials of all kinds, and internal investigations.

From his experience as a prosecutor and as a defense lawyer, Mike understands how federal prosecutors and regulators work. He leverages this experience and his excellent reputation with government lawyers to keep clients from being charged, against all odds.

If charges are brought, Mike brings his intense dedication, as well as his expertise from over forty trials related to a wide variety of issues including fraud, bribery and corruption, and tax violations.  He has won the vast majority of those trials, with the most well-known being his successful defense of the former CEO of JDS Uniphase in the largest securities fraud class action ever to go to trial, and his successful prosecution of the highest-ranked judge convicted in the judicial corruption trials in Chicago.

The extent of Mike’s passion in fighting for those investigated and prosecuted by the government is underscored by his longstanding service representing indigent defendants, and trying cases on their behalf, through the Northern District of California’s Federal Defender Panel.  He also has successfully handled criminal appeals in the Ninth and Seventh Circuits.

Mike literally wrote the book (for an American Bar Association publication) on internal investigations into potential violations of the securities laws, and has also conducted extensive internal investigations into a wide variety of other potential violations, including data privacy and health care fraud.  His experience and reputation allow him to run each investigation efficiently and sensitively while still satisfying prosecutors and regulators.

His work as a federal prosecutor began in Chicago as an Assistant United States Attorney, followed by promotions to Chief of Special Prosecutions, and eventually to Interim United States Attorney.  While in that office, he prosecuted a variety of federal criminal cases, including corrupt judges, legislators and other public officials.  He also served as Chief of the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for the government’s most sensitive investigations.

Since his return to private practice, he has represented CEOs, CFOs, COOs, General Counsels and corporate officials of some of the largest and most well-known companies, along with other individuals and Fortune 100 companies themselves, in a wide variety of investigations by federal and state prosecutors, the SEC, state Attorneys General, and other regulators.  A few examples of his many engagements can be found here.

Prior to joining Farmer Brownstein in order to focus on representing individuals, trying cases (and consulting on trials), conducting credibly independent investigations, pursuing criminal appeals, and taking on good causes of all kinds, Mike was a partner in San Francisco at King & Spalding, Hogan Lovells (where he served as Managing Partner of the San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices), and Heller Ehrman (where he was head of the white collar practice).  He also worked as an associate at Jenner & Block in Chicago, and served as a law clerk for Judge Walter Cummings on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Mike received his law degree from Stanford Law School, where he was Senior Articles Editor of the Stanford Law Review, and Order of the Coif, and obtained his A.B. degree from Princeton University, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Practices

• White-Collar Defense and investigations
• Trials of all kinds
• Appeals
• Antitrust & Competition Law
• Securities and other complex litigation