Covington & Burling LLP

Covington & Burling LLP continues to make progress in the compliance and investigations field. It has represented clients in a series of major DOJ investigations involving alleged FCPA violations. The firm has a sizeable white-collar defence and investigations team, which features a number of former prosecutors and former senior officials within the DOJ and SEC. It has fluent or native Spanish and Portuguese speakers at every level of seniority. Its client base is largely US or Europe-based businesses that have operations in Latin America. Prominent name Veronica Yepez has impressed the market since becoming a partner in 2022, representing clients in a number of DOJ investigations and internal investigations, and is almost entirely focused on Latin America. Steven Fagell co-heads the white-collar defence and investigations team and is a former senior official in the Criminal Division at the DOJ, now representing a number of multinationals in a number of DOJ investigations involving Latin America operations. Donald Ridings is chair of the global anti-corruption practice and is another experienced figure in Latin America-related matters. Leah Saris impresses at associate level. All named individuals are based in Washington DC.