James B. Moorhead

• jmoorhead@steptoe.com
• vCard
• Washington Office

James Moorhead is a litigation partner in Steptoe's Washington office.  He co-chairs the Crisis Management Group and is head of the Class Action Group.

He has provided strategic and communications advice, advocacy and crisis management to Fortune 500 and other major clients facing challenging legal, business, regulatory and political settings. Mr. Moorhead has experience representing newsworthy clients and commenting on issues of great public interest on national and local news stations and networks.

For over two decades, he has handled complex civil and criminal matters, including trials, appeals, arbitrations, mediations, and settlements. He has first-chaired over 25 complex civil and criminal jury trials and litigated a wide range of cases, including class actions, securities, director and officer liability and professional malpractice, RICO, wrongful death, and employment discrimination.

He has conducted numerous corporate internal investigations for Fortune 500 and other major entities on a variety of issues including FCPA, internal controls, money laundering, embezzlement, and bank secrecy.  He has experience designing and reviewing corporate compliance programs from an in-house and outside counsel perspective. He also has litigated on behalf of and counseled insurers on coverage disputes relating to a variety of policies, including errors and omissions and D&O policies.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Moorhead was a federal prosecutor in Baltimore and an investment banker and commercial banker in New York City. He recently served as chief financial officer and general counsel of an emerging growth company. His financial background has led to his representation of lenders, investment advisors, and other litigants in securities and other complex business transactions cases.

Highlights of his litigation experience include:

• Serving as national counsel to a multi-billion dollar financial services company, coordinating legal and communications strategies to address two US Senate investigations, two US Attorney investigations, several regulatory reviews and civil litigation, including confidential arbitration.
• National counsel to major assisted living facilities company against claims brought by lenders and investors.
• Counsel to securities brokerage firm against securities fraud claims brought by the National Credit Union Administration, the regulator of federal credit unions. The claims revolved around a now-defunct institution's purchases of collateralized mortgage obligations. The Court entered a take-nothing summary judgment for Mr. Moorhead's client.
• Counsel to insurance carrier in action against directors and officers of bankrupt construction company. The claims asserted the defendants had failed to report upon and oversee properly the company's operations prior to its bankruptcy filing. The case settled satisfactorily to the insurer.
• Counsel to various lenders against a series of class actions brought regarding collateral protection insurance. All cases were settled on terms very favorable to the clients, effectively ending this type of class action litigation.
• Represent law firm partners in malpractice/fraud action arising out of FDIC investigation of collapse of First American bank in BCCI affair. The litigation settled satisfactorily to the clients.

Mr. Moorhead is a frequent television commentator on crisis management and legal and business issues. He also has spoken and written extensively on crisis management, internal investigations, litigation prevention, and maximizing shareholder value.

Select News & Events

• Advertising Age Quotes Jim Moorhead on Changes in Crisis Management Market
• "All Eyes on You: Right Ways to Respond to Your Business Crises," Payroll Network’s Knowledge Center, April 10, 2013
• Law360 Profiles Jim Moorhead
• Law360 Quotes Jim Moorhead on How to Structure an Airtight Class Action Deal
• Fortune Quotes Jim Moorhead on Lance Armstrong’s Future
• Bloomberg Quotes Jim Moorhead on Hillary Clinton’s Illness Disclosure
• Corporate Counsel Reviews Book by Steptoe’s Moorhead on Using Corporate Crisis Management to Solve Problems
• "Enterprise Risk Management: Why You Need It, How To Do It," ALM Litigation Summit and Expo, November 16, 2011
• Jim Moorhead and Mike Miller Spoke at Martindale-Hubbell's Counsel to Counsel (C2C) Forum in New York on "Risk, Reputation, & Compliance", September 28, 2010
• Jim Moorhead Serves as Panelist at "Positioning the Class Action Defense for Early Success" (ACI Conference)
• Crisis Management in 140 Words or Less: Adapting Your Approach to Crises in the Social Media Age, (A Steptoe-Sponsored Event)
• Jim Moorhead Appeared on Fox News Channel to Discuss Tiger Woods and Crisis Management, December 2, 2009

Selected Publications

• One Year Later – Seven Leadership Lessons From the Susan G. Komen Crisis
  February 1, 2013, Bloomberg BNA
• The Limits of Federal Rule of Evidence 408
  May 18, 2011, Law360
• How an Association Can Help Its Members Tackle a Crisis
  March 11, 2011, WMACCA E-Newsletter Alert
• Hot Seat: Coordination Critical in Crisis Management
  November 2008, Counsel to Counsel Magazine
• Corporate Fraud Defense Report (Vol 1 No 6)
  June 2006
• Corporate Fraud Defense Report (Vol 1 No 5)
  May 2006
• Corporate Fraud Defense Report (Vol 1 No 4)
  April 2006
• To Conduct or Not Conduct an Internal Investigation
  June 2000, Corporate Legal Times (now Inside Counsel)

Professional Affiliations

• Served as an Assistant US Attorney in Maryland for three years (focused on prosecuting political and labor corruption cases)
• Member American Bar Association, Professional Liability Committee