David Simon

Industry Sector Expertise

Manufacturing; Financial Services; Health Care

Practice Areas

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; Bribery and Corruption; Cross Border Investigations and Enforcement Defense; Antitrust & Competition; China, False Claims Act; Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations; Litigation; Securities Enforcement & Litigation

Career

David W. Simon focuses his practice on strategic counseling and conducting domestic and international internal investigations to preempt or mitigate enforcement actions taken against corporate clients by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and other enforcement agencies. He successfully defends companies and senior executives in enforcement actions and litigation with the government, and he delivers practical regulatory advice and builds effective corporate compliance programs to help avoid enforcement actions in the first place.

David is experienced in guiding corporate boards and company management through challenging government enforcement matters, recognizing that corporate compliance problems are fundamentally business problems that require business-centric solutions. Holding an EMBA degree from the University of Oxford, he puts legal advice in the context of broader strategic business issues, and he leverages his combined experience and education in his leadership roles as national vice chair of the firm’s Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Practice Group and chair of the Antitrust & Competition Practice Group.

David is a defense lawyer who is adept at assembling and leading global teams of professionals to provide solutions to the potentially catastrophic financial and reputational threats presented by a government enforcement action. He has substantial experience dealing with U.S. regulators, and he understands their expectations.

In the course of helping companies successfully manage crises arising outside of the United States, David has conducted investigations all over the world and has built deep relationships with top-caliber business-oriented enforcement attorneys, forensic accountants, and other professionals in virtually all economically significant countries. David is a founding director of the Concilium Global Compliance, Investigations & Enforcement Defense Network, an alliance of business crimes and compliance lawyers around the world that provides integrated investigations, defense, and compliance solutions to cross-border problems.

To help his clients avoid compliance trouble in the first place, David provides practical, experienced-based advice and counsel and helps companies develop and implement effective corporate compliance programs. Companies choose David because his approach is to craft reasonable and pragmatic compliance solutions that can be implemented effectively, consistent with the expectations of the regulators.

The FCPA and global anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws are a major focus of David’s defense, investigations, and counseling practice. David is an FCPA lawyer who has handled dozens of bribery investigations and enforcement defense actions for companies around the world and in a variety of industries.

David is an FCPA/anti-bribery/anti-corruption authority who writes, speaks, and is quoted on hot topics in the field.

Experience

Selected Representative Experience

-U.S. counsel for a Scandinavian oil and gas company in a cross-jurisdictional bribery investigation involving an oil concession in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville). A true bet-the-company criminal investigation by the FCPA Unit of the U.S. Department of Justice. Foley persuaded DOJ to close its investigation without any action against the company. The matter required close coordination with in-country counsel and demonstrated the team’s ability to manage multi-jurisdictional regulatory risk in a high-stakes African operations context.

-Lead FCPA counsel for an independent compliance monitor engaged by a financial institution, as mandated by its FCPA settlement agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In this role, David advised the organization in his review and assessment of the company’s compliance anti-bribery policies, procedures, and internal controls, and he reported to the regulators on his findings and conclusions.

-Led the team representing a publicly traded U.S. manufacturing company that discovered suspicious payments to an agent made by a Latin American subsidiary. The investigation led to discovery of a number of additional compliance issues, including suspicious payments in China, sales to Cuba, and additional local bribery allegations. David helped the company navigate through the complex landscape this presented, including defending U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and local government investigations.

-Served as lead appellate FCPA counsel for Carlos Rodriguez in the landmark case U.S. v. Esquinazi, Case No. 11-15331, the first federal appeals court case to address the meaning of the FCPA’s “foreign official” element.

-Negotiated a civil settlement between the United States and the company that allowed a successor company to continue operations. The executives describe their experience with David as follows:

“When our business and personal lives were unexpectedly investigated by the DOJ, we sought out the best legal representation we could find. That search led us to retaining the legal services of Dave Simon. He was a calming and confident influence as he navigated us through countless obstacles, each time achieving results that exceeded our expectations. His legal skills cleared our names and gave us back a future we thought might be slipping away.”

-When St. Mary’s Medical Center in Huntington, West Virginia, sought to merge with the other major hospital system in the city, Cabell Huntington Hospital, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission challenged the combination on antitrust grounds. David led the team representing St. Mary’s in the defense of the FTC investigation and enforcement action and in the negotiation of a political solution with the West Virginia Attorney General, which allowed the merger to proceed.

-Defended an industrial company in a grand jury investigation into potential criminal violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and persuaded DOJ to close the investigation without bringing any changes against the company.

David has particularly deep experience leading investigations and enforcement actions arising out of India and advising companies and their India operations on compliance with applicable laws. Through this experience, David has developed a deep understanding of India and the risks posed to companies doing business there; he is adept at developing India-specific risk mitigation strategies and navigating cross-border enforcement actions and litigation.

Sherbir Panag, of the New Delhi-based Panag & Babu, describes David’s India experience as follows:

“David Simon’s understanding of India goes beyond the surface, to a deeper appreciation of its business, culture, and legal system. This depth allows his advocacy and counsel to be more grounded in the practical realities of the Indian subcontinent. Over the past decade, David has helped our clients navigate complex regulatory and commercial disputes in the United States, earning the trust of our clients, who view him as their go-to U.S. counsel. I have also had the pleasure of acting as co-counsel to FCPA internal investigations that David has led in India, and on each occasion, I have been impressed by his remarkable solution-oriented approaches as well as the respect he commands from law enforcement and clients alike.”

David is a thought leader with respect to India-specific compliance issues and has published extensively and spoken frequently on India compliance and governance issues.

Education