Lynn Neils’ practice focuses on representing companies and individuals on matters related to white collar criminal defense, internal investigations, regulatory enforcement, corporate compliance and complex commercial litigation. Drawing on her extensive prosecutorial, corporate and private practice experience that spans more than twenty-five years, she has counseled clients in large-scale federal criminal investigations, as well as advised clients on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other regulatory matters involving the SEC, CFTC and other federal, state and foreign regulators. Ms. Neils has significant trial experience in both the federal and state courts.
Ms. Neils is highly regarded by clients for her ability to "look at the full picture to get an understanding of what is going on" and her "impressive level of depth” (Chambers USA, Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations, 2015).
Ms. Neils served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and the District of New Jersey. During her more than 11 years as an Assistant United States Attorney, Ms. Neils worked on a wide variety of complex White-Collar cases, including FCPA, securities fraud, accounting fraud, bank fraud, Bank Secrecy Act, tax fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, health care fraud, art fraud, insurance fraud, environmental violations, U.S. sanctions, and obstruction of justice matters.
In 2004, she was promoted to Chief of the Complex Fraud /Cyber Security Unit in the SDNY where she supervised approximately 22 senior Assistant United States Attorneys in handling the investigation and prosecution of a wide variety of complex, and often multinational, white collar cases. In her role as Complex Frauds Chief, she coordinated with multiple prosecutorial and regulatory offices, including many outside the United States, including the U.K. Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Services Agency. She also acted as a liaison with the banking regulators in New York, including the Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
For several years, Ms. Neils also served as Senior Counsel at Johnson & Johnson where she was responsible for handling a large caseload of criminal and civil matters. In her role, Ms. Neils was responsible for, among other things, overseeing outside counsel representing Johnson & Johnson; conducting internal investigations; advising on compliance and regulatory matters; and conducting training of employees on regulatory and legal matters.