Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance adds three senior hires to its Litigation practice in the Americas

Clifford Chance today announced that partners Joshua Berman and Glen Donath and counsel Joshua Fitzhugh have joined its Americas Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice. They will be resident in the Firm's Washington, DC office.

Berman joins Clifford Chance from the United States Department of Commerce, where he served as Deputy General Counsel and managed more than 350 lawyers globally with responsibility for a wide range of substantive matters, including: CFIUS, international trade controls, classified investigations, cyber security, ethics guidance, data privacy, international anti-corruption efforts, Congressional investigations and oversight, and several other areas.

Prior to his time at the Department of Commerce, Berman was global co-chair of the Government Investigations and White Collar Criminal Defense Group at Katten Muchin (2010 – 2016) and national chair of the White Collar & Government Investigations Group at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (now Dentons) (2004 – 2010). Before that, Berman served in senior roles as a federal prosecutor at the US Department of Justice – as an Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (1997 – 2002); Associate Investigative Counsel for the Commission for the Review of FBI Security Procedures (2002); and Senior Trial Counsel for the Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section (2002-2004).

He has successfully represented financial institutions, investment funds and insurance companies, global energy companies, device, pharmaceutical and health care entities, defense contractors and others in an array of complex civil and criminal proceedings, including matters arising under securities, tax, environmental, health care, economic sanctions, anti-money laundering, FCPA, anti-corruption and other laws and regulations.

Donath joins from Katten Muchin, where he worked with Berman and was co-chair of the White Collar, Investigations and Compliance practice in the Washington, DC office. His practice focuses on white collar criminal defense and complex commercial litigation in federal courts across the country. Donath has represented clients before the DOJ, SEC, DOI, EPA, HHS, CFTC, HUD, and Senate and House Committees.

Prior, Donath was a partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (2007 – 2010), a Senior Assistant US Attorney in the Fraud and Public Corruption Section of the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (2002 – 2007) and an associate at Williams & Connolly (1997 –2002), where he represented President Bill Clinton in multiple matters, including the DOJ campaign finance investigation, the Lewinsky investigation and impeachment proceedings in the Senate.

Berman and Donath follow on the heels of last year's recruits – Robert Rice, former Chief Counsel to the Chair of the SEC; Daniel Silver, who served as Chief of the National Security and Cybercrime Section and Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division in the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York; and Janet Whittaker, an international arbitration specialist who joined from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Fitzhugh served for more than six years as Vice President & Group Head of Trade Controls at one of the world's largest defense contractors, BAE Systems. He joins as counsel and immediately bolsters an already formidable regulatory and white collar practice that was recognized in July of this year as US Export Controls Firm of the Year by WorldECR magazine.

Fitzhugh, who previously worked in both the US Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration and the US Department of State's Office of Legal Affairs, was responsible for all export control compliance across BAE Systems' non-US businesses, including export control investigations. He joins a Clifford Chance team with significant regulatory compliance and enforcement defense experience in the Defense sector, including David DiBari, Edward O'Callaghan, George Kleinfeld, Megan Gordon and Wendy Wysong, who led an ITAR monitorship of Xe Services/Academi (the former Blackwater) and more recently advised on one of the largest export control matters of this decade, the multiyear DOJ/BIS/OFAC investigation of Chinese telecommunications company ZTE.

With the additions of Berman, Donath and Fitzhugh, Clifford Chance now has 22 partners and experienced counsel across its white collar and regulatory defense and commercial litigation and arbitration practices in the Americas.

"We are building one of the leading international white collar and regulatory practices in the US," said DiBari, the Americas Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice area leader for Clifford Chance. "Our new colleagues are superior lawyers with credentials that enhance the team's versatility and depth. We've just made a strong team even stronger, and we aren't done yet. I couldn't be happier to welcome all three of them to our team.

"Donath and Berman each bring unique, value-add personal experiences to our white collar regulatory defense and commercial litigation practices at a time when those two disciplines are coalescing more than ever. In domestic and especially in cross-border actions, you need a team experienced in both areas to manage risk and drive proactive strategy. Josh and Glen move the needle for us.

"Fitzhugh similarly is a strategic acquisition who we believe will be a major force multiplier for us. Across industries, enforcement and reputational risks arising from increasingly complex international trade controls, enhanced international cooperation among authorities, and growth in international and multi-jurisdictional enforcement are focusing the attention of Boards on ensuring proper and current risk identification, assessment and mitigation. Fitzhugh will be joining us on the front line."

Berman said, "With cross-border investigations on the rise, increasing cooperation among regulatory and enforcement agencies and the challenges of an evolving compliance landscape worldwide, I am very pleased to be with a global firm that can deliver what's needed, right where our clients need it."

"Clifford Chance has taken a highly strategic approach in building its US Litigation practice and integrating it with a global team of first-rate litigators," said Donath. "I'm looking forward to working collaboratively with old and new colleagues on behalf of clients, both here in the States and around the world."

Fitzhugh said, "I am fortunate to have spent so much of my career on the front lines of international trade control compliance and enforcement around the world. Trade controls is an area that is complex, strategic and business-critical. Getting it right can open up new opportunities and new markets; getting it wrong, particularly in the enforcement context, can present an existential threat to companies large and small. As a US lawyer and corporate leader with experience in delivering global trade controls compliance in both US and non-US jurisdictions, I also appreciate the complexities of managing trade control risk within the corporate context. I joined Clifford Chance because the Firm understands these realities and is uniquely qualified to advise clients around the world on high-stakes compliance issues."