Neal Stephens, Partner

Neal J. Stephens is a partner in the Litigation department at Cooley, and is resident in the Palo Alto office.

Mr. Stephens is a trial lawyer who specializes in white collar criminal defense, internal investigations and complex civil litigation. He has handled more than 30 trials in federal and state courts during his career.

Mr. Stephens has represented officers and directors in investigations by various U.S. Attorney's Offices and the SEC related to accounting fraud, FCPA, insider trading, RICO, bribery, off label marketing, antitrust and numerous other alleged criminal violations. Mr. Stephens has also conducted internal corporate investigations for Audit or Special Committees of public companies related to accounting fraud and bribery allegations, including several investigations in Asia. On civil matters, Mr. Stephens has represented clients in a wide variety of complex civil litigation, including antitrust, securities, unfair competition and class action litigation and also provides counseling services related to compliance programs involving the FCPA, revenue recognition and insider trading.

Representative Matters:

    Criminal/Regulatory

• Represented Kent Roberts, former general counsel of McAfee, Inc., in stock option backdating cases brought by the DOJ and SEC. Mr. Roberts defeated both the DOJ (at trial) and the SEC (who voluntarily dismissed prior to trial), making him the only executive in a stock option backdating case to receive an acquittal in a jury trial.
• Represented a pharmaceutical company in a FCPA investigation conducted by the SEC and DOJ.
• Represented a CEO of a bank in a mortgage fraud investigation by OTS and DOJ.
• Represented Greg Reyes, former CEO of Brocade, in his criminal retrial related to stock option backdating.
• Represented Alfred J.R. "AJ" Villalobos in a bribery/securities action filed by the California Attorney General.
• Represented a CEO in a DOJ investigation related to allegations of off label marketing.
• Represented an executive in the Galleon insider trading prosecution.
• Represented a software company in a SEC enforcement action regarding accounting fraud.
• Represented a microchip company in a trade secrets investigation by the DOJ. 
• Represented a biotech company in an insider trading investigation by the SEC. 
• Represented a senior executive of a networking company in parallel investigations conducted by the DOJ and SEC regarding alleged accounting fraud. 
• Advised numerous public and private companies on FCPA compliance.

    Internal Investigations

• Represented the Audit Committee of a data storage company in an internal investigation conducted throughout Asia related to potential FCPA violations, revenue recognition fraud and embezzlement. 
• Represented the Audit Committee of a telecommunications company in an internal investigation in Taiwan and China related to allegations of fraud and bribery. 
• Represented the Audit Committee of a medical device company related to allegations of off label marketing and accounting fraud. 
• Represented the Audit Committee of a software company in an internal investigation related to FCPA and embezzlement allegations in Asia. 
• Represented the Audit Committee of a software company in an internal investigation related to potential revenue recognition fraud. 
• Represented the Special Committee of the Board of Trustees at St. Mary's College in an internal investigation related to a failed pledge exceeding $100M.

    Complex Civil Litigation

• Represented First Data Corporation on several breach of contract cases related to the deployment of network billing software.
• Represented Covidien (formerly Tyco Healthcare) on several antitrust cases alleging violations of Sections I and II of the Sherman Act, false advertising under the Lanham Act and unfair competition under various state laws. Defended cases in federal courts in Texarkana, Los Angeles, Boston and St. Louis. 
• Represented United States Gypsum Company in several product defect cases, including an industry wide national class action related to alleged product defects where plaintiffs asserted violations of California's Unfair Business Practices Act, Section 17200 and California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act ("CLRA"). 
• Represented several venture capital firms in FOIA litigation related to the disclosure of financial information. 
• Represented directors and officers in shareholder litigation.

Recent Publications:

• Be Careful What You Wish For:  Best Practices for Preparing and Responding to Investigations by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, with William Schwartz, Mike Attanasio and Chris Durbin, published in Bloomberg Law Reports:  Risk & Compliance, July 2009.
• The Next Wave of Internal Investigations, with Chris Durbin, published in The Recorder, Jan. 21, 2009.

Recent Speaking Engagements:

• FCPA and the UK Bribery Act 101: The Essential Primer for Life Sciences Compliance, ACI Life Sciences Boot Camp, November 2011
• FCPA Compliance Issues, 18th Annual Private Equity CFO Conference, July 2011.
• FCPA, UK Bribery Act and Other Anti Corruption Developments, Asian Pacific Bar Association, May 2011.
• Internal Investigations – Top 10 Problems and How to Avoid Them, Compliance Week 4th Annual Conference, June 2009
• FCPA Compliance – How to Build an Effective Compliance Program, May 2009
• Concurrent Civil and Criminal Action – The Predicament Faced by Clients, Bar Association of San Francisco, April 2009.
  
  

Prior to joining Cooley in 2000, Mr. Stephens was an Assistant United States Attorney in Miami, Florida where he served as Chief of the Major Narcotics Section. He also served as Regional Coordinator of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force for the Florida/Caribbean Region. Mr. Stephens ran investigations that resulted in the extradition and prosecution of high-level Colombian traffickers, including relatives and associates of Pablo Escobar, the former head of the Medellin cartel.  He received national awards from both the Justice Department and DEA for his work on international wiretap prosecutions. Mr. Stephens also taught courses regarding trial advocacy, wiretaps and electronic surveillance, and the prosecution of criminal organizations to other federal prosecutors and agents.

Mr. Stephens received his J.D. in 1990 from Harvard Law School and, after graduating, served as a law clerk to the Honorable Alicemarie H. Stotler, United States District Judge, Central District of California. He attended Stanford University on a soccer scholarship, graduating with distinction in 1987.

Mr. Stephens has been recognized as a Super Lawyer in Northern California. He is a member of the American Bar Association and has served as Co-Chair of its Computer and Internet Litigation Section. Mr. Stephens is also a member of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy ("NITA") and has taught trial advocacy at several NITA seminars. Mr. Stephens is also a member of the State Bar of California and the Santa Clara County Bar Association and handles pro bono matters with the Northern California Innocence Project.

Education

• Harvard Law School
  JD, 1990
• Stanford University
  BA, 1987

Court Admissions

• All California State Courts
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Central District of California
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of California

Admissions

• California

Memberships

• American Bar Association
• Association of Trial Lawyers of America
• National Association of Corporate Directors
• National Institute for Trial Advocacy
• Santa Clara County Bar Association