Charles J Clark

Charles J. Clark is a partner in the Government & Internal Investigations Group of Kirkland & Ellis, with offices in both Washington and New York. Charles' prior experience includes nine years in the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and four years as the head of litigation for a Fortune 100 financial services company. Charles represents public companies, financial institutions, broker-dealers and accounting firms, and their senior executives, in securities-related enforcement proceedings before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, Financial Industry Regulation Authority (FINRA) and other federal and state law enforcement and regulatory authorities. In particular, Charles counsels hedge funds, private equity firms, venture capital funds and other asset managers through regulatory scrutiny, including consulting on routine and risk-based inspections and examinations. Charles has defended investigations involving a broad spectrum of potentially unlawful conduct, including accounting and disclosure fraud, insider trading, foreign corruption, offering fraud, market manipulation, breach of fiduciary duty and conflicts of interest. In addition, Charles represents boards of directors and associated committees in internal investigations, and provides guidance on corporate governance and trading practices for public companies and private funds. Prior Experience In his nine years at the Commission, Charles served as Senior Counsel, Branch Chief, and Assistant Director in the Division of Enforcement, and supervised the investigation and prosecution of some of the Commission's most significant matters. Upon being named Assistant Director in the fall of 2001, Charles exercised direct supervisory authority over the Commission's investigation into Enron Corp. Charles joined Kirkland from Capital One Financial Corporation, where he served as managing vice president and chief counsel of litigation from 2004 to 2008. His extensive experience in the Commission's Division of Enforcement, and his in-house tenure leading the litigation group at Capital One, give Charles a unique perspective on the disclosure and governance challenges facing publicly-traded companies, financial institutions, and other regulated entities. Seminars Charles is a frequent speaker and panelist, whose speaking engagements include appearances at the Practising Law Institute, the American Conference Institute, Corporate Executive Board, and Chief Executive Magazine. Charles also serves as a resource for numerous media publications, including the Bloomberg News, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today and National Law Journal. Representative Matters Representing a leading investment adviser and its associated hedge funds in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into potentially unlawful securities trading by certain of the funds' investors; Representing the Chief Operating Officer of a leading activist hedge fund in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into potential breach of fiduciary duty and conflicts of interest; Representing a private equity fund in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA investigations into possible insider trading arising from the fund's acquisition of a publicly-traded company in a take-private transaction; Representing the Portfolio Manager of a leading fixed-income asset manager in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into sales practices relating to asset-backed and synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDO) and associated credit default swaps (CDS). Representing a leading online broker/dealer and its Chief Compliance Officer in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into violations of Regulation SHO arising from alleged naked short-selling and allegations of operating an unregistered dealer; Representing a managing director of a leading investment bank in a FINRA investigation into possible insider trading arising from a corporate takeover; Representing a public company in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into possible accounting and disclosure fraud and potential Regulation FD violations; Representing a private equity fund and its senior executives in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into potential breach of fiduciary duty, self-dealing, and related party transactions; Representing a family of private funds and its senior executives in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into potential breach of fiduciary duty and disclosure fraud; Representing certain investment advisers and their associated private funds in separate investigations by the Brazilian equivalent of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into potential trading and disclosure violations; Representing a leading private equity investment firm in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's "pay-to-play" investigation relating to certain pension funds; Representing a leading accounting firm in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into accounting misconduct by one of its audit clients; Conducting an independent corporate governance review for a leading software manufacturer arising from an investigation into its options pricing practices; Representing a public company in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into possible accounting and disclosure fraud associated with subscriber numbers; Representing a senior finance executive of a leading bank in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Attorney General's Office investigation into potential accounting violations arising from certain repurchase transactions; Representing the Chief Financial Officer of a leading family of money market funds in an investigation being conducted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators into the fund's "net asset value" following the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy; Representing a fixed-income sales executive for a leading investment bank in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into sales practices relating to structured finance vehicle; Representing public companies, private funds and other financial institutions in responding to FINRA requests for information relating to market surveillance activities; and Representing various other corporations and individuals in securities fraud investigations, including insider-trading, foreign corruption, options back-dating, and possible market manipulation. Other Distinctions U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Chairman's Award (December 2003) Awarded to Charles and to the team of professionals under his supervision responsible for the Enron investigation. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Paul R. Carey Award (December 2002) Honoring the late Commissioner Paul R. Carey, awarded to Charles personally for exceptional commitment to the Enron investigation and related subsequent enforcement proceedings. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Law and Policy Award (December 2001) Awarded to the September 11th Terrorist Attack Trading Investigation Team, of which Charles was a part.