planning ahead

Overview

Dorsey’s Government Solutions & Investigations Practice Group is comprised of experienced lawyers from offices around the world – including former senior federal and state prosecutors and regulators. The group helps our clients navigate complex, high-scrutiny environments so clients can stay focused on their business. Our multi-disciplinary team includes lawyers in our Government Enforcement, Government Contracts, National Security Law, and Export Controls, Economic Sanctions, & International Trade practices to offer clients our combined expertise.

OUR CAPABILITIES 
Our 50+ members include seasoned attorneys, former prosecutors, and former judges capable of managing government inquiries and enforcement actions at every stage and in any industry.

The GSI team has tried hundreds of federal, state, and regulatory cases, conducted internal investigations for corporate clients around the world and, when appropriate, assisted clients with making necessary filings with and disclosures to the government, including in the following areas:

• Accounting fraud, including revenue recognition and other books and records investigations
• Administrative and regulatory investigations
• Anti-money laundering
• Anti-terrorism
• Bribery and corruption, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the U.K. Bribery Act
• Criminal antitrust
• Campaign finance investigations
• Consumer Financial Protection Act, including Unfair, Deceptive and Abusive Practices (UDAAP)
• Data privacy and data breach issues, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
• Economic Espionage Act
• Economic sanctions and trade embargoes administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
• Embezzlement
• Environmental offenses
• Export controls, including Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) matters
• Customs law and regulations governing imports, such as customs prior disclosures; Section 232, Section 301, Section 337 and antidumping/countervailing/safeguards trade remedies; and restricted imports
• False Claims Act investigations, including qui tam litigation
• Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
• FIRREA and bank fraud
• Federal and state grand jury investigations
• Foreign direct investment, including with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
• Foreign ownership control and influence under the National Industrial Security Program (NISP)
• Government contracting and grant programs and litigation
• Healthcare fraud
• Public corruption, including political bribery
• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
• Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute violations
• Securities fraud
• Special counsel and congressional investigations
• White collar crime, including mail, wire, and tax fraud 

GOVERNMENT ENFORCEMENT & CORPORATE INVESTIGATIONS
The significant practical experience of Dorsey’s team provides a key advantage when conducting internal investigations and defending against government investigations. Our team guides clients through unfamiliar and complex processes, including how to minimize the legal and business ramifications of government enforcement actions and internal investigations such as negative publicity, turnover, customer backlash, and financial instability.

When our clients find themselves subject to government scrutiny, we leverage the solid reputation we have built over the last 100 years to gain the trust of government regulators and law enforcement authorities, for the benefit of our clients. Our experienced teams quickly work to discover the key facts and applicable law, in order to advise clients on their options and recommended next steps. We do this in the context of understanding our clients’ business priorities, recognizing there usually is a range of options to address a legal problem.

We have extensive experience negotiating and working with a number of government authorities, including:

• Department of Justice
• Federal agency Inspectors General (OIG)
• Securities and Exchange Commission
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Department of Labor
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
• England’s Serious Fraud Office and Financial Services Authority
• State Attorneys General

Increasingly, a government action involves parallel proceedings in civil, criminal, political, or regulatory forums. We help clients coordinate their response to such parallel proceedings, including by using knowledge gained in one dispute to effectively manage risk in another.

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS
Dorsey’s Government Contracts practice includes lawyers from many practice areas, hailing from offices around the world. Drawing upon their respective areas of expertise, they provide our clients with big-picture perspective and specific advice on the complex and constantly changing rules governing contracts and grants awarded by the U.S. Federal Government, states, and other public entities.

Our government-contracting client base includes publicly-traded multinational companies, privately-held businesses, academic institutions, Alaska Native Corporations, and non-profit organizations in industries such as manufacturing, defense, healthcare, construction, and technology. We assist these clients in the bidding and award phase, bid protests, compliance issues (including suspension and debarment), claims, audits and investigations, termination, and disputes.  

NATIONAL SECURITY LAW
Dorsey & Whitney’s nationally recognized National Security Law Group has decades of experience in U.S. Government reviews of foreign direct investment (FDI) into U.S. businesses that may raise U.S. national security issues. An FDI transaction includes the acquisitions of, or certain investments in, an existing U.S. business, including the formation of certain joint ventures. Reviews and investigations to determine if such FDI transactions raise U.S. national security concerns are conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

Dorsey’s National Security Law Group’s lawyers have handled CFIUS filings on behalf of buyers or sellers (or, in certain cases, on behalf of both buyer and seller) since 1988. The lawyers in the Group have appeared for various U.S. and non-U.S. clients before CFIUS and, through that extensive experience, have developed excellent, close, and mutually respectful relationships with CFIUS management and staff, including, where appropriate, the ability to meet directly with those officials in Washington, DC. Dorsey’s National Security Law Group successfully represented the foreign investor in the very first case notified under CFIUS’s mandatory notification requirement and has advised hundreds of companies from multiple industries regarding CFIUS’s mandatory filing requirements, which began in 2018 and were expanded in 2020.

The group assists clients in negotiating mitigation instruments with various U.S. Government agencies, including the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) when there is foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI). After those mitigation agreements are implemented, Dorsey helps clients comply with the terms of those agreements and with the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM). The Group’s lawyers also help conduct internal investigations when those compliance obligations may have been breached and advises on disclosure to the U.S. Government when there has been a breach.

EXPORT CONTROLS, ECONOMIC SANCTIONS, & INTERNATIONAL TRADE 
Increased global threats and tensions have heightened the focus on U.S. national security, including enforcement actions under U.S. export controls and economic sanctions. New and ever-changing enforcement priorities and federal rules and regulations cover a wide range of activities in international commerce, and the resulting complexities of doing business globally have never been greater.

Dorsey’s team regularly assists clients with:

• U.S. economic sanctions and trade embargoes administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC);
• Dual use export controls under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) administered by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS);
• Munitions export controls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) administered by the U.S. State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC);
• National defense or homeland security related contracts and business arrangements; and
• Enforcement actions and internal investigations relating to the laws administered by BIS, DDTC, and OFAC.
• Import classification, country-of-origin, valuation, and compliance with the regulations of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
• Defending client interests in antidumping, countervailing duty, safeguard, Section 301, and Section 232 matters.

Dorsey’s team understands the complex regulatory landscape presented by these often-interrelated U.S. export control laws. Our experienced team of lawyers welcomes the opportunity to advise and counsel clients in assessing risks and opportunities against the backdrop of these rules and regulations.