Overview
(December 21, 2015, Washington, DC) — Steptoe & Johnson LLP is pleased to announce that Reid Weingarten has been named to The National Law Journal’s list of Trailblazers in White-Collar. The list was featured in a supplement in the December 21 issue of the legal publication.
Widely recognized as one of the nation’s top white-collar criminal defense lawyers, Mr. Weingarten has been the go-to lawyer for senior corporate executives and members of Congress in litigation or under investigation for the past three decades.
His representations have included some of the biggest cases in the Dot Com-Era scandals, such as former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers; former Enron accounting officer Richard Causey; former Tyco general counsel Mark Belnick; and former Monster.com president James Treacy. During the junk bond scandal, Mr. Weingarten represented former Drexel senior trader Cary Maultasch, who was an aide to Michael Milken, and during the Iran-Contra scandal, he served as lead counsel in the prosecution of Major General Richard V. Secord.
Other high-profile representations have included former Navy quarterback Lamar Owens; former Gen Re CEO Elizabeth Monrad; former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., former Congresswoman Jane Harman of California; Washington, and the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In 2015, he added another victory to his stellar career, when he secured a complete defense victory for David Rainey, the most senior BP executive charged in the Deepwater Horizon explosion. On June 5, 2015, following two hours of deliberations, a jury in New Orleans, Louisiana found Mr. Rainey not guilty of the remaining charge against him, making false statements to FBI investigators. US District Judge Kurt Engelhardt, who presided over the case, stated on the public record that he “agreed with the verdict” and believed it was “a correct verdict based on the evidence.” The acquittal followed his dismissal of an obstruction of Congress charge earlier in the week.
Another marquee trial outcome in recent years was the complete acquittal Mr. Weingarten scored for former GlaxoSmithKline associate general counsel Lauren Stevens, who was twice indicted on six criminal counts that she obstructed a federal inquiry and made false statements to investigators. On May 10, 2011, mid-way through trial and shortly following the close of the government’s case, the Honorable Roger Titus of the US District Court for the District of Maryland granted the defense team’s motion for acquittal.
The dismissal marked the first time in seven and a half years on the federal bench that Judge Titus had granted an acquittal before the defense had called its first witness. Similarly, for Mr. Weingarten, it marked the first time in more than 20 years of practice that his argument for a directed verdict under Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure had resulted in a clean sweep dismissing all charges against his client.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Weingarten, as a federal prosecutor, led the government’s cases against two federal judges, two congressmen, federal agents, a federal prosecutor, and the former Houston police chief.
About Steptoe
Steptoe & Johnson LLP is an international law firm widely recognized for vigorous advocacy in complex litigation and arbitration, successful representation of clients before governmental agencies, and creative and practical advice in guiding business transactions. The firm has more than 500 lawyers and other professionals in offices in Beijing, Brussels, Century City, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, Phoenix and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.
