Christopher Frey

Practice Areas

Christopher D. Frey, a former federal prosecutor, an experienced trial attorney, and a partner in the firm's San Francisco office, focuses his practice on white collar and regulatory defense, government and internal investigations, and high-stakes civil litigation.

Mr. Frey regularly advises major global companies and leading financial institutions, individual executives, and Boards of Directors in highly sensitive and confidential matters. He has amassed significant experience in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-money laundering, economic sanctions, and securities areas. Mr. Frey also routinely provides strategic counseling on compliance issues and crisis management.

Before joining Latham, Mr. Frey was a partner in the Tokyo office of another global law firm, where he advised clients based in Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and elsewhere in Asia. Mr. Frey also served as the head of that office for approximately two and a half years.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Frey served for over six and a half years as an Assistant US Attorney in the Criminal Division of the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. As a member of the Securities & Commodities Fraud Task Force as well as the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit, he investigated and prosecuted a wide array of complex white-collar matters, including FCPA violations, insider trading, accounting fraud, market manipulation, investment fraud, money laundering, intellectual property, cybercrimes, and criminal tax offenses.

During his tenure as a prosecutor, Mr. Frey was the lead trial lawyer in numerous jury trials, and he has substantial appellate experience, having briefed and/or argued over a dozen appeals before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Mr. Frey is a recipient of the US Department of Justice’s John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement.

From 2014 to 2015, Mr. Frey served as Associate Counsel in the Office of the White House Counsel under President Barack Obama. In that capacity, Mr. Frey helped develop and execute the White House’s response to various Congressional investigations and related hearings, and provided legal and strategic advice to White House staff and Executive Branch officials on compliance, oversight, and risk management issues.

Mr. Frey also maintains an active pro bono practice, which focuses on LGBTQ rights and the representation of indigent criminal defendants, among other matters.

Mr. Frey has previously served on both the New York City Bar Association’s Criminal Advocacy Committee and its Judiciary Committee, which reviews and evaluates all judicial candidates for the federal and state courts in New York City. Mr. Frey is currently a member of BALIF (the Bay Area’s LGBTQ Bar Association) and LeGal (the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York).