Overview
Michael R. Bromwich brings more than 40 years of experience to the representation of corporate, individual, and public sector clients. His special areas of expertise and experience are internal investigations, congressional investigations, criminal defense, crisis management, and state and federal law enforcement.
He has served at various times as a federal prosecutor (in the Southern District of New York), a special prosecutor (during the Iran-Contra scandal), inspector general (for the Department of Justice), and independent monitor of Walmart, Apple, and multiple local police departments. Over the years, he has been called on countless times – by public corporations, private companies, federal, state, and local governments, cabinet secretaries, and the president of the United States – to deal with problems of the greatest private and public significance. In addition, he has headed three major federal agencies.
Michael’s most recent publicly disclosed representations have included the American Federation of Teachers in a congressional oversight investigation, the City of Phoenix in a DOJ civil rights investigation, Christine Blasey Ford, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx. Recently, Michael led a team of Steptoe lawyers in a comprehensive investigation of the largest corruption scandal in the history of the Baltimore Police Department. The January 2022 report of that investigation can be found here.
Michael currently represents approximately 20 clients in the two classified information-related Special Counsel investigations. Within the past year, he has represented Presidential appointees in various federal agency investigations. He brings to Congressional investigations his own experience of testifying more than 40 times on a variety of subjects both as a government official and a private citizen.
In 2010, following the Gulf Oil Spill, President Obama selected Michael to head the Interior Department’s offshore drilling regulatory agency, help manage the crisis, reorganize the agency, and implement a new set of rules designed to make offshore drilling and production safer. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-bromwich-fix-oil-industry-oversight. President Obama announced Michael’s selection in the first Oval Office address of his presidency.
From 1995-1999, Michael served as the Presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Justice (DOJ). As the IG, Michael was DOJ's principal oversight official responsible for investigating public corruption and systemic issues relating to waste, fraud, and abuse within DOJ and its law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). His work included investigations of the FBI Laboratory, the FBI's role in the Aldrich Ames affair, the handling of classified information in the 1996 presidential election campaign finance investigation, and the DEA's involvement in the CIA-crack cocaine controversy.
From 1987-1989, Michael served as associate counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel for Iran-Contra. He was one of three courtroom lawyers for the government in the 1989 trial of United States v. Oliver L. North, one of the most significant public corruption prosecutions of the last quarter of the 20th century. Before that, Michael served four years as an assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (1983-1987), where he tried a dozen criminal cases, including complex cases lasting as long as two months, and argued numerous appeals.
Michael is a member of the American Law Institute. He was honored in 2019 by the Innocence Project for his contribution to its mission over the last three decades.
- District of Columbia
- New York
- J.D., Harvard Law School, 1980
- M.P.P., Harvard Kennedy School of Government, 1980
- B.A., Harvard College, 1976, summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa
News & Publications
Media Mentions
January 12, 2024
Press Releases
Steptoe Secures Win for Clients in Case Against Former Trump Advisor
September 2, 2022
Media Mentions
May 19, 2022
Press Releases
Steptoe Releases Investigative Report on the Gun Trace Task Force Scandal
January 13, 2022
Press Releases
GIR Names Steptoe One of the Top 30 Investigations Firms for Sixth Year
October 23, 2020
Press Releases
GIR Names Steptoe One of the Top 30 Investigations Firms for Fifth Year
December 10, 2019
Press Releases
Veteran Prosecutor, Compliance Monitor Michael Bromwich Joins Steptoe's White-Collar Practice
September 23, 2019
Noteworthy
- Best Lawyers in America, Criminal Defense: White-Collar, 2022
- Super Lawyers, Washington, DC, Criminal Defense: White-Collar (2007-2010, 2013-2015)
Previous Employment
- Independent Monitor, Walmart, Inc. (2013-2018)
- Independent Monitor, Apple Inc. (2013-2015)
- Director, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Department of the Interior (2011)
- Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, Department of the Interior (2010-2011)
- Independent Monitor, Virgin Islands Police Department (2010)
- Independent Monitor, Metropolitan Police Department (DC) (2002-2008)
- Inspector General, Department of Justice (1994-1999)
- Associate Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel for Iran-Contra (1987-1989)
- Assistant US Attorney, US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (1983-1987)
Professional Affiliations
- Member, American Law Institute
- Non-resident senior adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Advisory board member, Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice, University of Pennsylvania School of Law