Andrew J Levander

Andrew J. Levander is Chair of the firm’s Policy Committee and a partner in the white collar and securities litigation group and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in the Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit. Since 2004, he has been cited as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA, a referral guide to leading lawyers in the United States based on the opinions of their peers and clients. In 2017, Mr. Levander was named as a Litigator of the Year by The American Lawyer for being a lawyer who has, “reshaped the law, the industries in which their clients operate and the way their colleagues in the bar approach cases.” Mr. Levander received the Chambers USA Award for Excellence in White Collar Crime & Government Investigations in both 2013 and 2010. He has also been honored by Law360, The Best Lawyers in America, Benchmark Litigation, and The Legal 500 for his litigation skills. Mr. Levander represents parties in securities fraud and commercial litigation and criminal and regulatory investigations. In the maelstrom of investigations and litigation arising out of the world financial crisis, he has been retained to represent such high-profile clients as Robert Diamond, former CEO of Barclays, Lehman Brothers’ outside directors and John Thain, former CEO of Merrill Lynch. Mr. Levander has been integrally involved in the management of headline crises for such diverse clients as Takata Corporation (airbag recalls), Twenty-First Century Fox (multiple sexual harassment claims), Jon S. Corzine (MF Global collapse); Hewlett-Packard’s special counsel committee (Hurd termination investigation); SAIC’s board (CityTime contract scandal); and Monster Worldwide (options backdating investigation and litigation). In addition, he has taken a leading role in Dechert’s representation of a number of intermediary funds and investment managers in the Bernard Madoff scandal, including his representation of Ezra Merkin. In 2012, he led the defense of Deutsche Bank in a billion dollar False Claims Act case brought by the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York and, in 2006, he negotiated a global settlement for BAWAG, Austria’s fourth largest bank, with Refco’s debtors, creditors, shareholders, bondholders and investors, as well as with the SEC and the Department of Justice. In September 2012, following a two-week bench trial, the New York Supreme Court rendered a sweeping victory to Mr. Levander’s clients, Ruby Schron and various entities he controls, in connection with a complex set of litigations involving the ownership and control of a multi-billion dollar nursing-home empire. Following three days of cross-examination by Mr. Levander, the Court expressly found that our adversaries were “evasive” and “mendacious” and that their explanations on the witness stand were incredible “prevarications” entitled to no weight. Subsequently, the lead adversary pleaded guilty to perjury related to that case and was disbarred. For many years, he served as an adjunct professor of trial practice at New York University, and he has lectured at Columbia University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Yale Law School, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the ABA White Collar Crime Institute, SIFMA, the Practising Law Institute, and various bar associations and government agencies. He is a former chair of the Bar Association of the City of New York’s Committee on Securities Litigation Professional Issues Subcommittee. Tufts University, B.A., 1973 Columbia Law School, J.D., 1977