Michael R. Bromwich

Michael R. Bromwich brings more than 40 years of experience to the representation of a broad range of clients—corporate, individual, public sector institutions, labor unions, and non-profits. His primary areas of practice 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 affair, inspector general for the Department of Justice (DOJ), and independent monitor of Walmart, Apple, and multiple municipal police departments. Over the years, he has been called on frequently—by public corporations, private companies, federal, state, and local governments, cabinet secretaries, law enforcement personnel, and the president of the United States—to address and solve problems of the greatest private and public significance. He has headed three major federal agencies in the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior.

Michael's most recent publicly disclosed representations have included the American Federation of Teachers in multiple congressional oversight investigations; the City of Phoenix in a DOJ civil rights investigation; and senior public officials in criminal and congressional investigations. He also led an investigation into allegations of institutional racism in the Boise Police Department; and led a team of Steptoe lawyers in a comprehensive investigation of the largest corruption scandal in the history of the Baltimore Police Department.

Within the last three years, Michael has represented dozens of clients in two special counsel investigations, multiple inspector general investigations, and in numerous investigations conducted by federal regulatory agencies such as the Office of Special Counsel. Michael 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 to help manage the crisis, reorganize the agency, and implement a new set of rules designed to make offshore drilling and production safer. President Obama announced Michael’s selection in the first Oval Office address of his presidency (learn more here).

From 1994-1999, Michael served as the Inspector General (IG) of the DOJ, nominated by President Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the US Senate. As the IG, Michael was the 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.  Before that, Michael served four years as an assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he tried a dozen criminal cases—including 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.