STEPHEN A. BEST

Washington, D.C. Office
(202) 986-8235
email: sbest@llgm.com

Areas of Practice

Litigation and Dispute Resolution

•  White Collar Defense and Regulatory Investigations

As co-head of the firm's white collar defense and regulatory investigations group, Stephen Best advises clients on all aspects of corporate governance including complex internal investigations, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) enforcement, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance strategies, grand jury and Independent Counsel investigations, parallel proceedings, complex civil litigation, and trial practice before federal and state tribunals. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney for Fairfax, Virginia, Mr. Best has successfully conducted over two hundred felony jury trials in state and federal courts.

Mr. Best has recently represented many companies and persons on sensitive matters including:

•  Delta Petroleum in parallel SEC and DOJ investigations of accounting and disclosure issues surrounding stock option grants and expensing;

•  Zurich Financial in multi-state investigations surrounding issues of price-fixing and bid-rigging;

•  AXA Financial in parallel SEC and DOJ separate accounting fraud investigations of MBIA and Sanjay Kumar, former CEO of Computer Associates;

•  Counsel to Judge Frederick B. Lacey, Judicially-appointed monitor for Bristol-Myers Squibb;

•  CEO and COO of Chicago Bridge & Iron in Audit Committee and SEC investigations surrounding accounting and disclosure issues;

•  Numerous witnesses in the KPMG criminal tax investigation before the USAO-SDNY;

•  Numerous witnesses in the Royal Dutch Shell parallel SEC and DOJ investigations surrounding allegations of over-reserving;

•  Arab Bank in DOJ investigation;

•  Global Crossing, Ltd.'s Special Committee on Accounting Matters of the Board of Directors in an SEC inquiry;

•  A Fortune 100 Company's Special Committee of the Board of Directors in an internal investigation in anticipation of a derivative action;

•  Enron Corporation's former Vice Chair in parallel proceedings before Congress, the SEC, and the Department of Justice;

•  Numerous individuals in various state and federal health care fraud investigations;

•  Numerous public companies before the NYAG investment protection unit;

•  Public company in parallel SEC and DOJ investigations surrounding allegations of questionable valuations in company's asset portfolio

•  Brokers and mutual funds in parallel investigations by the New York State Attorney General and the SEC into market timing and late trading;

•  Leading insurance company in an internal investigation of alleged market timing practices;

•  Individual in a Department of Commerce/Department of Justice investigation regarding alleged unlicensed exports to an embargoed country;

•  Lucent Technologies' senior executive in an SEC enforcement matter regarding revenue recognition issues;

•  An individual indicted for embezzlement, resulting in an acquittal on all counts at trial;

•  Numerous individuals in multiple, separate FCPA investigations; and

•  A U.S.-based telecommunications company in an FBI FCPA and national security investigation.

Education

B.A. Washington & Lee University, cum laude, 1986
J.D. University of Texas at Austin, 1989

Admitted to Practice

Virginia, 1989
District of Columbia, 1990

Selected Activities

Author

•  “The FBI is Asking,” Legal Times, October 1, 2001

•  “American Corporate Governance: Scandal, Reform and the Global Capital Markets,” White Paper prepared for Coudert Bros., L.L.P., August 16, 2002

•  “Taken To The Extreme: Prosecutions Under The FCPA," Mealey's Corporate Governance Report, December 2003

Member

•  American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, Committee Chair (1997-2001)

•  Adjunct Professor, Trial Advocacy Law, George Washington University (1997-2000)

•  University of Virginia Trial Advocacy Institute (1997-present)

Lecturer

Regular lecturer on criminal law and procedure to Bar Associations, as well as state and federal law enforcement agencies