Morrison & Foerster Adds Investigations and Corporate Governance Partners in Germany

Morrison & Foerster offices in New York.

 

Morrison and Foerster, which has been expanding its global investigations, compliance and white-collar defence practice, has recruited two compliance specialists as partners from WilmerHale in Berlin.

Roland Steinmeyer and Patrick Späth specialise in corporate governance and compliance issues. Steinmeyer is known as a leading adviser to German blue-chip companies and is counsel to carmaker Daimler AG's supervisory board for the investigations by German and U.S. authorities into diesel emissions.

“Roland and Patrick have extensive experience advising management and supervisory boards on global compliance and government enforcement issues and on structuring compliance programmes, further strengthening our ability to support clients across multiple jurisdictions and industries,” Paul Friedman, Morrison & Foerster’s managing partner for Europe and head of the firm’s compliance practice, said in a statement.

Steinmeyer's practice focuses on board counselling and advising clients on the impact of U.S. regulations, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and on German corporate and criminal laws. He also advises clients on a range of cross-border government enforcement and other compliance and corporate matters, the structuring of compliance programmes, follow-on litigation and directors' and officers' insurance coverage.

Späth focuses on compliance, corporate and criminal internal investigations, corporate governance and related litigation. His experience spans German domestic and international anti-bribery laws, the FCPA, anti-money laundering, tax and economic sanctions. Späth conducts related internal investigations in Germany and abroad, internal compliance reviews, due diligence of third parties and training programmes. He also regularly pursues claims arising out of compliance failures and advises on related D&O insurance coverage.

Steinmeyer and Späth’s recent notable mandates include advising Hessische Landesbank in relation to stock trades around dividend date, and counseling Bilfinger SE, HSH Nordbank AG and MAN SE in connection with multiple corporate internal investigations and compliance issues.

The new hires in Berlin come at a time when Morrison & Foerster has been expanding its global investigations and white-collar defence practice in the U.S. The firm has recently recruited several former senior U.S. government officials, including John Carlin, former assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s National Security Division and former chief of staff to then-FBI director Robert S. Mueller; Charles Duross, former deputy chief of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division of the DOJ, where he led the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit; James Koukios, former senior deputy chief of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division of the DOJ; Lisa Phelan, former chief of the National Criminal Enforcement and Washington Criminal I Sections of the Antitrust Division of the DOJ; John Smith, former director of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control; Bob Litt, former general counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; and former prosecutors and SEC enforcement attorneys.