Top FCPA Enforcement Lawyer Mark F. Mendelsohn Joins Paul, Weiss

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP announced today that prominent Department of Justice prosecutor Mark F. Mendelsohn will join its Litigation Department as a member of the firm's White Collar Crime & Regulatory Defense and Securities Litigation practices. Mr. Mendelsohn will be resident in the firm's Washington, D.C. office effective June 1, 2010. Mr. Mendelsohn is currently the Deputy Chief of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), and is internationally acknowledged and respected as the architect and key enforcement official of the DOJ's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement program.

"Mark has an impressive reputation for having built the DOJ's modern FCPA program, for dramatically increasing the level and sophistication of FCPA enforcement around the globe, and for underscoring the critical importance of anti-corruption compliance," said Paul, Weiss chair Brad S. Karp. "Mark's background and experience will be an enormous asset to our clients, which are facing increased scrutiny on FCPA and other cross-border criminal and regulatory issues. We are very fortunate that he has chosen to join Paul, Weiss, where his counseling and unique experience in FCPA matters will be an invaluable resource to our clients and within our firm."

Kenneth A. Gallo, managing partner of Paul, Weiss's D.C. office, noted: "We are absolutely delighted to have Mark join our expanding and highly talented team of litigators in D.C. Mark's considerable FCPA expertise complements well the services we currently offer clients in antitrust, product liability, securities and patent litigation, as well as our securities enforcement, internal investigation and white collar practices. We are proud that such talented lawyers continue to choose to join our firm to help us better serve our clients."

Mr. Mendelsohn stated: "I am very excited to become part of such a highly regarded and storied firm as Paul, Weiss. In making this decision, I was attracted by the opportunity to work with such a dynamic and exceptional group of lawyers who are regularly entrusted with their clients' most sensitive matters. I was equally drawn by the incredible collegiality and strong democratic tradition of the firm, its deep and talented bench of litigators, and its sophisticated, global client base. I look forward to working closely with the firm's clients and assisting them with their most complex, transnational regulatory and compliance challenges."

In his most recent position as Deputy Chief of the Fraud Section, Mr. Mendelsohn designed and implemented the DOJ's current FCPA enforcement program. He was responsible for overseeing all investigations and prosecutions under the FCPA, had principal policy responsibility related to the OECD Anti-bribery Convention, and was the Department's representative on the OECD's Bribery Working Group. Prior to joining the Fraud Section, Mr. Mendelsohn was senior counsel in the DOJ's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section in Washington, D.C., and prior to that served for nearly six years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York. In that capacity, he handled white collar, money laundering, FCPA, computer crime and intellectual property prosecutions, and was a founding member and cohead of the office's Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Unit.

Mr. Mendelsohn clerked for the Honorable Denny Chin, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, from 1997-1998. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and has also been an adjunct lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School. He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1989, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1993.