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March 07, 2022

Attorney General Merrick Garland to address ABA white collar crime conference March 3

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2022 —U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland will be a keynote speaker at the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section’s 37th National Institute on White Collar Crime to be held March 2-4 in San Francisco. Officials from the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodities Future Trading Commission, Internal Revenue Service and federal judges will be among presenters at the conference.  

Garland, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer and the Justice Department’s top-ranking official, will deliver the E. Lawrence Barcella Jr. Memorial Address on Thursday, March 3, at 9:20 a.m. PST.

Kenneth A. Polite Jr., assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Criminal Division, will give a keynote address on Wednesday, March 2, at 11:30 a.m. PST. Kathryn H. Ruemmler, executive vice president, chief legal officer and general counsel at Goldman Sachs, also will be a keynoter on Friday, March 4, at 9:15 a.m. PST.

What: 
37th National Institute on White Collar Crime
Sponsored by the ABA Criminal Justice Section

When: 
Wednesday-Friday, March 2-4

Where:
Hilton San Francisco Union Square
333 O’Farrell St.
San Francisco, California

Conference panels will address the continuing challenges created by the pandemic during investigations, trial preparation, conduct of trials and sentencing. A panel of distinguished judges and a separate panel of trial lawyers will address their approaches to many of these logistical and procedural issues.

Program highlights include (all times are PST):

“In the Eye of the Beholder: What Moves a Tax Case from Civil to Criminal?” — This panel will address the IRS focus on civil fraud enforcement and criminal referrals, including the creation, organization and initiatives of the IRS Office of Fraud Enforcement, current IRS enforcement priorities, recent criminal tax prosecutions, what happens when a criminal tax investigation is discontinued or declined and more.
Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.

“Antitrust Criminal Enforcement – Trends and Recent Developments” Panelists will focus on the evolution and application of enforcement policies within the DOJ Antitrust Division, and the practical implications of those policies within the broader enforcement landscape. They also will discuss recent developments and new trends under the current leadership of the division.
Wednesday, 10:30 a.m

“Conversation with the Enforcers & Regulators” — The directors of the SEC (Gurbir Grewal) and CFTC Division of Enforcement (Vincent A. McGonagle), and DOJ’s assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division (Jonathan Kanter) and principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division (Nicholas L. McQuaid) will discuss their current respective agency’s enforcement priorities.
Wednesday, 1:15 p.m.

“Securities Enforcement in a Biden Administration” Both civil regulators and the Department of Justice have brought renewed attention to financial fraud cases, with a particular focus on the capital markets. This panel will examine the recent trend in securities enforcement, including the government’s agenda with respect to SPACs, ESG disclosures for public issuers and asset managers, retail trading platforms, corporate disclosures regarding cyberbreaches and cryptocurrencies.
Wednesday, 4:15 p.m.

“The Challenge of Judging in the 21st Century” — Five noted federal judges, led by United States Circuit Judge Bernice Donald of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, will consider some of the personal and professional challenges and difficult substantive issues they confront in the daily administration of justice, particularly in white-collar cases.
Thursday, 10 a.m.

“General Counsel Forum” — This panel of general counsel will discuss the realities GCs face in the current environment of global investigations and cooperation, how they deal with it and navigate contacts, relationships and inquiries with the DOJ, the SEC and other U.S. and non-U.S. regulatory bodies.
Thursday, 1 p.m.

“Challenging Ethical Issues in High-Profile White-Collar Cases”
— Panelists will discuss a potpourri of the most recent high-profile ethics issues, including the myriad prosecution and defense ethics issues in the prosecution and acquittal of defense lawyer Joshua Treem, the manner in which prosecutors obtain the testimony of cooperating witnesses through proffers from their lawyers and the resulting potential differences with their own testimony, the impact of media and social media on high-profile cases, multiple representations, attorney-client privilege issues and other issues faced by counsel.
Friday, 9:45 a.m.

Click here for the complete program schedule.

This event is open to members of the press. For media registration, please contact Barbranda Walls at [email protected]. Note: The Department of Health of the City and County of San Francisco requires all attendees provide proof before entering the event that they are fully vaccinated and boosted OR have had a negative COVID test (within one day for antigen tests or two days for PCR tests) prior to entry.

The American Bar Association is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.