News
Former Prosecutor Joins Latham & Watkins in New York
Addition of experienced compliance and regulatory lawyer further strengthens Latham's securities litigation, white collar and government investigations practices
New York, October 6, 2009… Latham & Watkins LLP1 is pleased to announce that Maria A. Barton, a former federal prosecutor and compliance specialist, has joined the firm's New York office as counsel in the Litigation Department. Barton brings to the firm's litigation practice more than two decades of experience as an advisor on corporate governance, ethics and compliance programs, internal investigations and regulatory matters.
Most recently, Barton was Managing Director at Richard C. Breeden & Co., where she evaluated the design and implementation of an ethics and compliance program of a major accounting firm. She was also the lead counsel for the Independent Review Panel evaluating the World Bank's Institutional Integrity Department and conducted a comprehensive review of the Bank's anti-corruption unit. She also directed a team of lawyers, investigators and analysts in one of the largest expedited international investigations ever conducted into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme.
As former head of the White Plains Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, she managed a staff of prosecutors and supervised cases involving the broad spectrum of federal criminal offenses, including white collar and corporate fraud, tax evasion, domestic and international money laundering, public corruption, foreign corrupt practices and racketeering enterprises. During her twelve year tenure in the United States Attorney's Office, she was awarded the Department of Justice Director's Award for Superior Performance in 1997, 2003 and 2004.
"We are delighted to welcome Maria to the firm," said David Gordon, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins in New York. "Her deep compliance and internal investigations experience across a number of industry sectors will further enhance our litigation practice in the United States."
Richard Owens, Global Co-Chair of the White Collar and Government Investigations Practice Group, stated: "Maria is a seasoned prosecutor who has handled a variety of complex and high profile litigation, government investigation and internal compliance matters. Maria brings astute judgement and strong client counselling experience to the practice. The Latham & Watkins team has earned a reputation for handling some of the most intricate and complicated assignments facing major companies and financial institutions, both in New York and globally, and Maria is an excellent addition to our team."
"Latham & Watkins is a firm of tremendous quality and its depth and breadth of practice, in particular in the securities litigation, government investigations and corporate governance areas, provide me with a unique platform to grow my practice," said Barton. "Latham's stature in the area of 'high stakes' litigation was a compelling draw for me and I look forward to helping build the practice."
Barton joins Latham & Watkins from Richard C. Breeden & Co., a US-based business management and consulting firm where she was managing director advising clients with corporate governance, ethics and compliance issues, internal investigations and regulatory matters. She was also the head of the White Plains Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. She received her law degree from Yale Law School in 1987 and a B.S. summa cum laude from Boston University in 1983.
About Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins is a global law firm with approximately 2,000 attorneys in 27 offices, including Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Brussels, Chicago, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New Jersey, New York, Orange County, Paris, Rome, San Diego, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. For more information on Latham & Watkins, please visit the Website at www.lw.com.
Notes to Editor
1 Latham & Watkins operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in the United Kingdom, France and Italy and affiliated partnerships conducting the practice in Hong Kong and Japan.
Contacts
David Gordon, New York Office Managing Partner +1.212.906.1251
Richard Owens, Global Co-Chair of the White Collar and Government Investigations Practice Group +1.212.906.1396