Pat Martin brings over 17 years of experience as a former federal white-collar prosecutor to his work representing clients facing government scrutiny, including civil enforcement actions, criminal investigations, and prosecutions by indictment. An experienced trial attorney, Pat was previously an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) for the District of Columbia, where his tenure culminated as chiefs of the Criminal Division and the Fraud and Public Corruption Section. He was also an AUSA in the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Unit in the Eastern District of Michigan. Pat has another 11 years of in-house legal experience as a general counsel and civil litigator.
This background equips Pat to conduct internal investigations to help higher education institutions, public and private entities, corporate officials, government officials, and private individuals assess potential civil and criminal liability connected to government allegations. Once the facts are gathered, Pat advises clients on best practices to reduce their criminal and civil exposure. His counsel includes evaluating the factors that the U.S. Department of Justice typically weighs in deciding whether to go forward with a prosecution or instead enter into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) or non-prosecution agreement (NPA). Pat negotiates with the government on the terms of these agreements, such as charges, penalties, waivers of statutes of limitation, admission of relevant facts and government cooperation. He also advises clients on creating and implementing frameworks to help them fulfill compliance and remediation obligations under such agreements, including reporting to a compliance monitor.
Pat's work for colleges and universities in particular includes assisting with compliance audits, U.S. Department of Justice investigations of admissions policies and practices, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights antisemitism investigations, and other sensitive internal investigations.
For clients in private industry, Pat handles matters involving allegations of complex corporate and financial fraud, cybercrime and cyber-enabled fraud, and export control and sanctions compliance. He also represents clients facing Congressional investigations and hearings.
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Pat also brings an in-house perspective on helping clients assess their legal risks from his past role as general counsel and senior vice president of the National Insurance Crime Bureau. His work overseeing legal, policy, and compliance functions for this association enhances his understanding of the importance of helping clients in crisis. He focuses on getting them back to the regular course of business or mission fulfillment and, if feasible, avoiding the expense, uncertainty, and reputational risk of a high-profile investigations and court cases.
When that's not possible, Pat draws on his extensive experience as a trial lawyer to represent clients in bench and jury trials. As a federal prosecutor, Pat investigated and prosecuted a broad range of complex white-collar crimes, including bribery and corruption offenses, wire and mail fraud, contract fraud, false claims and statements, and federal election crimes. He also handled cases involving civil rights, cybercrimes and national security-related crimes, including terrorism, espionage, export-control violations, and threats to public officials. Over the course of his career, he has tried more than 35 jury trials to verdict, indicted well over 100 cases, authored 12 appellate briefs (arguing 8), and advocated on the United States’ behalf in hundreds of hearings.
From this work, he has developed a thorough understanding of the operation of numerous federal agencies that enforce laws and conduct regulatory oversight affecting clients across an array of industries. These agencies include:
- U.S. Department of Justice
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control
- U.S. Department of Commerce and Bureau of Industry and Security
- U.S. State Department
- U.S. Department of Defense
- U.S. Department of Education
- U.S. Internal Revenue Service
- U.S. House of Representatives Office of Congressional Ethics
- U.S. Capitol Police
- U.S. Marshal Service
- U.S. Bureau of Prisons
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