Michael Buchanan

Michael F. Buchanan is a litigation partner focusing his practice on white-collar defense and investigations, cybersecurity, and patent litigation. He has been recognized by Chambers USA 2023 in the area of white-collar crime and government investigations. Clients quoted in Chambers praised him for bringing “great legal acumen to the table in a very practical matter.”

A skilled trial lawyer, Mr. Buchanan has tried several complex civil and criminal cases to verdict, including several complex federal patent trials and international arbitrations on behalf of major pharmaceutical companies. He has also argued multiple federal appeals. Mr. Buchanan regularly represents public and private companies in the financial services, healthcare, and e-commerce industries on a variety of issues relating to data breaches and cybersecurity, including incident response and investigation and related litigation. His white-collar representations have involved allegations of securities fraud, insider trading, tax fraud, accounting fraud, health care and Medicare/Medicaid fraud, and theft of trade secrets. He served on the Monitoring Team for the Newark Police Department, responsible for overseeing the NPD's compliance with a Consent Decree issued by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mr. Buchanan spent over nine years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, where he investigated and prosecuted matters involving the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, insider trading, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, health care kickbacks, off-label marketing, and Medicare/Medicaid and private insurance fraud. He was involved in some of the Office's most significant and high-profile prosecutions. During his tenure, Mr. Buchanan served as Chief of the Securities and Health Care Fraud Unit, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, and Chief of the Terrorism Unit.

Before becoming a federal prosecutor, Mr. Buchanan practiced at one of New York City's top white-collar criminal defense law firms and served as a Law Clerk to the Hon. Franklin S. Van Antwerpen, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Buchanan also served as a law clerk at a premier intellectual property law firm where he participated in all aspects of the firm's patent litigation and prosecution practice. Mr. Buchanan previously worked as a structural engineer at Grumman Aerospace.

Federal Bar Council (Vice-Chair, Intellectual Property Committee; Member, Program Committee)

B.S., Columbia University; J.D., cum laude, Brooklyn Law School