Our Practice
Farmer Brownstein Jaeger Goldstein Siegel & Shepard LLP is a preeminent litigation and investigation boutique law firm. Our seasoned trial, government, and regulatory lawyers have spent decades helping companies and individuals solve their most difficult problems. Much of our work is referrals from the nation’s leading law firms and companies – the most sophisticated and toughest evaluators of legal work.
Our firm combines the experience of attorneys who have led government prosecution and regulatory offices, and attorneys who have been partners in the finest international law firms . We have decades of experience in complex business litigation, government regulatory and criminal matters, antitrust litigation and counseling, and securities and accounting cases, as well as outside independent investigations of corporate governance and malfeasance concerns. We represent clients in federal and state courts across the country, in arbitrations, before state and federal regulatory agencies, in U.S. and international government investigations, and in all phases of criminal and civil litigation, including trials, arbitrations, mediations and appeals. We are often asked to partner with other firms due to our experience, expertise, judgment, and ability to work collaboratively.
We give each engagement unparalleled personal attention, and we work closely with our clients to solve their issues in the most intelligent and efficient manner. Our team approach makes our diverse set of backgrounds and experiences available, as needed, to every assignment. We have the skills and experience to tailor each engagement to best fulfill the business or personal objectives of our clients, from obtaining a desired resolution quietly, to fighting aggressively at trial, as well anything and everything in between.
Practice Areas:
Practice Areas
We have extensive experience defending clients against civil antitrust claims brought by individuals or as class actions in federal and state courts. We also prosecute antitrust claims for clients who have been harmed by anticompetitive conduct, including antitrust claims and counterclaims in IP litigation. Our lawyers have played leading roles in high-stakes price-fixing, group-boycott, monopolization, tying, exclusive dealing, and other cases alleging billions of dollars of damages, and we have represented companies in multidistrict litigation, class actions, and opt-out cases. Our experience cuts across a broad range of industries including, for example, electronic devices and components, chemicals, agriculture, entertainment, health care, pharmaceuticals, clothing, payment cards, credit reports/identity theft, motor oil, and automotive parts. Our criminal antitrust expertise is invaluable in enabling us to position our clients for the best possible results in civil litigation.
We bring prosecution experience and perspective to defend companies and individuals facing criminal investigations and indictments brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (DOJ). Mr. Siegel, who leads our criminal antitrust practice, is a former senior DOJ official with extensive knowledge of DOJ criminal antitrust and cartel investigative strategies, policies, and practices. The breadth and depth of our attorneys’ criminal experience enable the firm to successfully defend clients in high-stake domestic and international price-fixing investigations of suspected cartel involvement in which individuals face potential incarceration and companies face possible criminal fines in the hundreds of millions of dollars. We have extensive experience with the DOJ’s leniency program, and we have strong reputation and credibility with the DOJ. We have tried cases in proceedings brought by the Antitrust Division alleging price-fixing and bid-rigging violations.
We often provide antitrust advice and counseling services to help clients run their businesses successfully, avoiding the pitfalls of our complex antitrust laws. This includes helping clients navigate antitrust issues in distribution and sales arrangements, horizontal and vertical relationships, and the intersection of antitrust laws and intellectual property rights. We have substantial experience advising global and domestic companies across many industries in designing and implementing effective antitrust compliance programs that are consistent with the U.S. Department of Justice compliance credit policy. We also advise clients on the intersection between antitrust and regulatory schemes in the context of dominant firm and multi-firm conduct.
Our lawyers represent individuals and companies in white-collar criminal investigations and trials. Mr. Shepard was a federal prosecutor who prosecuted judicial and other public corruption cases, as well as fraud and tax offenses, and served in a series of leadership positions, including Chief of Special Prosecutions in the United States Attorney’s Office in Chicago, Chief of the Public Integrity Section at Main Justice in Washington, D.C., and Interim United States Attorney in Chicago. Before entering private practice, Mr. Siegel was a prosecutor and senior manager for the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (DOJ). For many years, he supervised DOJ’s grand jury investigations and high-profile criminal litigation.
Our firm strives to head off any government prosecution or litigation in the first place, and we have persuaded prosecutors not to charge Fortune 100 companies and C-suite corporate executives in extremely sensitive and challenging cases. But if an acceptable disposition cannot be achieved, we have the skill, experience and unflinching dedication to pursue a vigorous defense at trial, with over 40 criminal trials under our belts and the recognition of having a partner selected as a Fellow (and Regent) of the American College of Trial Lawyers. We also have led internal investigations on behalf of boards of directors and advised and represented executives in connection with grand jury investigations and in other matters having potential criminal implications.
We represent companies and individuals in a wide range of complex business disputes through all phases of litigation and appeals in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitrations and mediations. We work closely with each client, whether as a plaintiff or defendant, to develop strategies to resolve disputes in a cost-effective manner with minimal disruption to ongoing business operations. We also defend companies in class actions, including in multidistrict litigation. We have represented clients in many industries involving claims relating to partnerships, contracts and business torts, California’s Unfair Competition Law, fraud, fiduciary duties, corporate governance issue, license agreements, real estate disputes, fair market rent determinations, business valuations, patent pools, misappropriation of trade secrets, and tax and accounting issues.
We have extensive experience prosecuting and defending actions between stakeholders in private or closely held companies. Our lawyers have successfully guided clients through numerous cases involving the fiduciary and contractual duties owed by shareholders and partners to each other and to the company, business torts, ownership and control issues and business valuations.
We represent firms and individuals in securities related class actions and derivative litigation and in connection with investigations and SEC enforcement proceedings. Our lawyers have conducted internal investigations for boards of directors and special committees, and, on behalf of the company’s then-CEO, obtained a defense verdict in the largest civil securities fraud class action ever to go to trial. In addition, we have broad experience representing accounting firms and individuals in all manner of cases, from multi-jurisdictional securities class actions to client-related disputes and SEC and other regulatory matters.