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January 05, 2010
Expansion in Business Fraud, Financial Restructuring and Healthcare Litigation in New York and Washington Offices
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, one of the world’s leading international law firms, has elected Jodi Avergun (Business Fraud and Complex Litigation), Bret Campbell (Business Fraud and Complex Litigation), Peter Friedman (Financial Restructuring), and Brian McGovern (Healthcare Litigation) as Partners of the firm, effective January 1, 2010. Ms. Avergun and Messrs. Campbell and Friedman are resident in the firm’s Washington office while Mr. McGovern practices in New York.
“We are pleased to welcome these outstanding attorneys to our partnership. Their promotion confirms our confidence in their exceptional talent, and evidences the firm’s continued growth in the areas of litigation and restructuring,” said Christopher White, Cadwalader’s Chairman. “It is a great pleasure to celebrate their hard work, dedication, and valuable contributions to our clients and the firm. We look forward to their continued success in the years to come.”
The following attorneys were elected Partner:
Jodi L. Avergun, a seasoned trial and appellate lawyer, represents corporations and individuals in all phases of complex civil, regulatory, and white collar litigation matters, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, securities fraud, health care, banking, and international extradition investigations. She has counseled companies and senior executives in sensitive internal investigations, and has successfully represented clients in matters before the SEC, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and in civil and criminal matters in federal court. She also designs and implements compliance programs, including those related to pharmaceutical regulation. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Avergun served as a senior executive in the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division, and also served as the Chief of Staff to the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In both of those roles, she was a principal advisor to the DOJ leadership on matters involving international drug enforcement, extradition and mutual legal assistance, anti-money laundering strategy, asset forfeiture and pharmaceutical regulation. Ms. Avergun also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 12 years in the Eastern District of New York, where she was ultimately appointed Senior Litigation Counsel and Chief of the Long Island Division of the Eastern District U.S. Attorney’s Office. While in New York, she oversaw and conducted a variety of money laundering and financial fraud investigations and prosecutions, and, in recognition of her work, was awarded a Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an AUSA. Ms. Avergun is a graduate of Brown University and a graduate, magna cum laude, of Brooklyn Law School, where she was an editor of the Brooklyn Law Review.
Bret Campbell represents clients in a broad range of complex criminal, regulatory, and civil litigation matters, including international corruption (involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act), money laundering, commercial fraud, securities, export control, economic sanction, and related issues. He conducts internal investigations, advises clients on corporate governance issues, counsels on the implementation of compliance codes, and advises and conducts due diligence reviews in connection with mergers, acquisitions, and other complex corporate transactions. Mr. Campbell has represented U.S. and foreign pharmaceutical, energy, telecommunications, financial services, aerospace, and defense companies. He has defended clients in connection with commercial fraud actions in various federal courts; and represented financial services firms and individuals in NYSE Disciplinary Hearings, SEC enforcement actions, and related civil litigation. Mr. Campbell received a B.A., with honors, from Hobart College, and a J.D., cum laude, from Vermont Law School.
Peter Friedman's practice focuses on representing major parties-in-interest in high stakes, complex financial restructurings. He was a senior member of Cadwalader's team in its highly successful representation of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry and the United States of America as secured lender and acquirer in the bankruptcy cases of General Motors and Chrysler; co-lead litigation counsel for the debtors in In re Lyondell Chemical Company in connection with Lyondell's historic debtor-in-possession financing; represented Northwest Airlines, Enron, WorldCom and other debtors in contested confirmation hearings and a wide variety of contested matters and adversary proceedings; and represented the largest unsecured creditor in the Owens Corning bankruptcy and the Official Committee of Equity Security Holders in the USG cases. From 1994-1995, he worked in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs and as an aide to two Counsels to the President. He was a law clerk from 1998-1999 to the Honorable Joel M. Flaum of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and in 2000, served as Acting Legal Advisor to the Cable Services Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission. A graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, cum laude and Order of the Coif, where he was an editor of the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, he received his undergraduate degree from Trinity College, with honors.
Brian McGovern offers health care providers and not-for-profit clients counsel and advocacy on reimbursement issues; government audits and investigations, including those related to Medicaid and Medicare; regulatory compliance; certificate of need applications; property tax exemption applications and appeals; and patient-care survey deficiency citations. Mr. McGovern has tried cases and argued appeals in both administrative tribunals and in State and Federal courts. He has also counseled the New York Association of Homes and Services for the Aging on statutory, regulatory and other legal developments impacting long term care providers in New York State. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. McGovern served as an Assistant Attorney General for New York State, where he defended the State in, among other matters, legal challenges to statutes, regulations, and agency actions affecting health care providers. He is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center.
