Andrew J. Levander

Andrew J. Levander focuses his practice on high-profile white collar litigation and investigations and acted as the former Chair of Dechert's Policy Committee. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in the Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit, Mr. Levander is consistently recognized for excellence in the practice of law. Mr. Levander is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, which is widely considered to be the premier professional trial organization in the United States. Since 2004, he has been cited as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA, a referral guide to leading lawyers in the United States based on the opinions of their peers and clients. In 2022, he was recognized by Law360 - for the eighth time - as a “White Collar MVP” for his headline-making representations. In 2018, he was named as a “Litigator of the Year” by The American Lawyer for being a lawyer who has, “reshaped the law, the industries in which their clients operate and the way their colleagues in the bar approach cases.” He has also been honored by Law360, The Best Lawyers in America, Benchmark Litigation and The Legal 500 for his litigation skills.

Chambers has noted that Mr. Levander is “widely acknowledged as one of the country’s preeminent white-collar defense attorneys,” with commentators praising him as being “a superstar and a terrific lawyer” and “a forceful advocate and a formidable opponent who is at the top of the profession.” Mr. Levander is designated as a “Star Individual” for white collar crime and government investigations in New York and described as a “an outstanding defense lawyer and an extremely zealous defender of his clients… offer[ing] the full rounded package of hard-working, practical, respected and deeply analytical.” He is also recognized by Chambers USA for securities litigation and enforcement, most recently in Band 1 for securities enforcement where he was referred to as “one of the strongest lawyers in the country for securities enforcement work… [and] highly adept at matters involving allegations of FCPA violations, money laundering and accounting fraud, among others.”

Mr. Levander is also named to Global Investigations Review’s list of “Who’s Who Legal Investigations” in 2023, which notes that Mr. Levander “has built a formidable business crime practice, and is sought out by top executives to represent them… [he] sits among the finest white-collar crime lawyers the US market has to offer, and brings significant experience as a former assistant US attorney to his cases.” Clients and peers state that Mr. Levander is “an exceptionally intelligent lawyer” and “continues to be a preeminent name in the field.”

In addition, Mr. Levander is recognized as a “Hall of Fame” lawyer in the corporate investigations and white collar criminal defense sections of The Legal 500, which notes that he is repeatedly singled out as a “ridiculously good” lawyer who has “visibility and big-ticket clients.” The Legal 500 also recommends Mr. Levander for his general commercial disputes and securities shareholder litigation practice.

Mr. Levander was recognized by Law360 as a “White Collar MVP” for his headline-making representations in 2022—an honor he has received numerous times. In 2014, Mr. Levander received the Milton S. Gould Award for Outstanding Oral Advocacy by the Office of the Appellate Defender. In 2016, Mr. Levander received the Norman S. Ostrow Award from The New York Council of Defense Lawyers for fighting for his clients with vigor, dignity and expertise. In addition, his successful defense of Michael Rigas in a six-month criminal trial in 2004 arising out of the collapse of Adelphia Communications was named to the “Top Cases of 2004” by New York Law Journal Magazine.

Mr. Levander represents parties in both securities fraud and commercial litigation as well as criminal and regulatory investigations. In the maelstrom of investigations and litigation arising out of the world financial crisis, he was retained to represent such high-profile clients as Robert Diamond, former CEO of Barclays, Lehman Brothers’ outside directors and John Thain, former CEO of Merrill Lynch. Since then, Mr. Levander has been integrally involved in the management of headline crises for many diverse clients such as Michael Steinhardt (three year investigation of ancient art collection closed in 2022 without criminal charges); Takata Corporation (airbag recalls); Twenty-First Century Fox (multiple sexual harassment claims); Jon S. Corzine (MF Global collapse); Hewlett-Packard’s special counsel committee (Hurd termination investigation); SAIC’s board (CityTime contract scandal); and Monster Worldwide (options backdating investigation and litigation). In addition, he has taken a leading role in Dechert’s representation of a number of intermediary funds and investment managers in the Bernard Madoff scandal, including his representation of Ezra Merkin. Mr. Levander has regularly defended many prominent companies or their officers, directors and affiliates, including Arconic, CHC Group Ltd., General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, HNA Capital International, Hertz, Hewlett-Packard, MacAndrews & Forbes, Microsoft, Monster Worldwide, Motorola, M + W Group AG, NCR Corporation, NFP Corp., Omega Healthcare, PPG Industries, Valeant Inc., Walmart and The Witkoff Group.

He has also advised many of the leading financial institutions or their affiliates such as AIG, Aon, Bank of NY, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, GLG Man Group, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, the NYSE, RCS Capital Management LLC, Riverstone Holdings, Societe Generale and UBS. For example, he currently is representing a senior officer of FTX in multiple investigations. In 2012, he led the defense of Deutsche Bank in a billion dollar False Claims Act case brought by the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York; and, in 2006, he negotiated a global settlement for BAWAG, Austria’s fourth largest bank, with Refco’s debtors, creditors, shareholders, bondholders and investors, as well as with the SEC and the Department of Justice.

Mr. Levander has tried more than 75 cases, including several complex arbitrations. Drawing on his experience as a law clerk to the Honorable Wilfred Feinberg in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and as an Assistant to the Solicitor General, he also has an extensive appellate practice in both federal and state courts. He has litigated in courts across the country and has arbitrated before the American Arbitration Association, CPR, JAMS, the New York Stock Exchange, the National Association of Securities Dealers, UNCITRAL and private arbitrators. Mr. Levander also has extensive international litigation experience and has handled numerous investigations arising under the FCPA, the False Claims Act and similar statutes.

In September 2012, following a two-week bench trial, the New York Supreme Court rendered a sweeping victory to Mr. Levander’s clients, Ruby Schron and various entities he controls, in connection with a complex set of litigations involving the ownership and control of a multi-billion dollar nursing-home empire. Following three days of cross-examination by Mr. Levander, the Court expressly found that our adversaries were “evasive” and “mendacious” and that their explanations on the witness stand were incredible “prevarications” entitled to no weight. Subsequently, the lead adversary pleaded guilty to perjury related to that case and was disbarred. Additionally, in 2014, Mr. Levander successfully obtained a permanent injunction for a prominent New York real estate developer in a US$350 million contract dispute tried in Delaware Chancery Court.

Mr. Levander has also been successfully involved in numerous mediations and arbitrations. Recently, Mr. Levander won complete victories for a leading private equity firm against a former partner and for Emigrant Bank against a joint venture partner. Another notable arbitration includes a multi-million dollar settlement in a private arbitration between two well-known investment banks involving a complex US$100 million dispute arising out of the sale of a business; another includes a complete vindication of SkyLink Aviation, Inc., a Canadian company that provides helicopter and other aviation services around the world, in an international arbitration against the United Nations.

Mr. Levander has written extensively on legal issues and co-authored Prevention and Prosecution of High Technology Crime, published by Matthew Bender, and Settlement Agreements in Commercial Disputes, published by Aspen Law & Business. He also contributed the chapter, “Attorney-Client Privilege and Attorney Work Product Protection” to Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel, published by Thomson Reuters Westlaw and the Association of Corporate Counsel, as well as a chapter in Latin Lawyer’s Guide to Corporate Crisis Management on representing individual executives in Latin America. For many years, he served as an adjunct professor of trial practice at New York University, and he has lectured at Columbia University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Yale Law School, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the ABA White Collar Crime Institute, SIFMA, the Practising Law Institute, and various bar associations and government agencies. He is a former chair of the Bar Association of the City of New York’s Committee on Securities Litigation Professional Issues Subcommittee.