The global law firm Jones Day has announced that Andrew E. Lelling, former United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, will join Jones Day as a partner in its Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice and be based in Boston.
“Andrew built an impressive 20-year career at the Department of Justice, including the last 15 years spent skillfully prosecuting important cases here in Massachusetts, ranging from civil rights actions to corporate fraud matters,” said Colleen Laduzinski, Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Boston Office. “His deep experience and recognition as one of the nation’s leading lawyers-capable of orchestrating large-scale and complex multijurisdictional investigations and litigation matters-as well as his tremendous insights into the legal issues faced by U.S. companies, healthcare providers, and financial institutions, will be incredibly valuable to our clients worldwide. We are delighted to welcome Andrew and look forward to his contributions to Jones Day and the growth of our Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice in Boston.”
Mr. Lelling will focus his work at Jones Day on internal investigations, representing companies and individuals in federal and state investigations, business counseling to mitigate risk of potential government enforcement, enforcement actions and criminal prosecutions, compliance reviews, and advising clients on regulatory and enforcement issues with international dimensions.
Widely known for his lead role in “Operation Varsity Blues,” an investigation that resulted in the most significant enforcement action ever initiated by the federal government targeting corruption in college admissions, Mr. Lelling served as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts since December 2017, leading an office of 250 federal prosecutors and staff. During his tenure, he successfully led several landmark criminal and civil enforcement actions in the areas of healthcare, securities, and public corruption, including the RICO prosecutions of senior executives at Insys Therapeutics, Inc., the $4.9 billion settlement with Royal Bank of Scotland to resolve RMBS claims arising from the financial crisis, and the $53 million plea agreement with Columbia Gas arising from the natural gas explosions that devastated Lawrence, Massachusetts, in September 2018. He also served as chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on Cybercrime and Intellectual Property, where he led a team of U.S. Attorneys tasked with formulating and advising the Attorney General on cyber and intellectual property enforcement policy nationwide.
“For years, the Boston U.S. Attorney’s office has been very active in the prosecution of white-collar crime across many industries, and Andrew was a big part of many of that office’s most significant cases,” said Ted Chung, leader of Jones Day’s Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice. “As we prepare for an uptick in enforcement activity from the Department of Justice, we are delighted that Andrew will bolster our already strong white collar team and that our clients will have the benefit of his deep experience with major criminal and regulatory matters and his considerable talents as an investigator, advocate, and legal advisor.”
Prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, Mr. Lelling was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Boston from 2005-2017 and in Virginia from 2003-2005. He focused on prosecuting cases involving complex securities and corporate fraud, international money laundering, theft of trade secrets, and drug trafficking. His achievements included successfully prosecuting the largest global pyramid scheme ever investigated by the Department of Justice, involving nearly $3 billion and about 2 million victims worldwide, and successfully prosecuting the owner of the largest commercial fishing fleet on the East Coast for fraud, cash smuggling, and tax evasion.
From 2001-2003, Mr. Lelling was Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, where he helped manage approximately 500 lawyers across 11 sections, with direct responsibility for voting rights, hate crimes, and police misconduct. In that role, Lelling led the Department’s investigation of the 2000 Presidential election in Florida, and negotiated human rights issues with the Chinese government.
Mr. Lelling began his legal career as Law Clerk to the Hon. B. Avant Edenfield, Chief Judge for the Southern District of Georgia. He went on to work as a litigation associate for major law firms in New York and Boston before beginning his 20-year tenure at the Department of Justice. He has also served as a member of the adjunct faculty at the New England School of Law in Boston, where he taught a seminar on securities regulation and enforcement from 2013-2017. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.
