Government Procurement Update

Brian Whisler is the immediate past Chair of the DC Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice Group and a member of the Compliance and Investigations, Dispute Resolution and Global Health Care and Life Sciences Practice Groups. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Brian served for fifteen years as a federal prosecutor with the US Department of Justice. During that time, he was the Criminal Chief Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond, overseeing and prosecuting cases ranging from white collar crime, violent crime, public corruption, and terrorism. His trial practice focused predominantly on white collar cases, including health care fraud, securities fraud, public corruption, money laundering and tax fraud. He previously served as an Assistant US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina for ten years, where he focused on white collar prosecutions and received the Attorney General’s Award for his prosecutions in a money laundering investigation resulting in convictions of more than 25 defendants after three jury trials and multiple guilty pleas. He also served as Chief of Appeals and Health Care Fraud Coordinator for the same jurisdiction. Brian has also served as adjunct professor at the University of Richmond, TC Williams School of Law and an instructor at the National Advocacy Center for the US Justice Department in Columbia, South Carolina.

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Maurice A. Bellan is the Managing Partner of the Washington, DC office and a member of the Global Dispute Resolution and North America Litigation and Government Enforcement Steering Committees. He is a former trial attorney at the US Department of Justice and is experienced in a broad range of fraud and anti-corruption matters. Maurice was recently named by Savoy magazine as one of the most influential African-American lawyers in the United States.

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Graham Cronogue is a Senior Associate in Baker McKenzie's North America Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice Group. Prior to joining the Firm, Graham clerked in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Aleesha Fowler is an associate in the Washington, DC office. She represents domestic and international corporate clients on a range of litigation and compliance matters, including criminal and civil investigations brought by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. She regularly advises clients on white collar criminal matters, and has significant experience in handling investigations that raise issues under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the US False Claims Act. Aleesha's pro bono practice is focused on providing legal advice and representation to incarcerated clients seeking parole and other available remedies.

Martine Gaetan is a member of the Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice Group and is a member of the Compliance and Investigations, and Dispute Resolution Practice Groups in our Washington, DC office. Martine worked as a summer associate in 2018 where she supported the FCPA Practice Group in various projects and the FARA seminar. She also worked as a law clerk with Baker McKenzie in Bucharest where she conducted a compliance investigation, drafted an anti-corruption risk assessment report and firm recommendations.

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Kristen is an associate in Baker McKenzie's North America Antitrust & Competition Practice Group in Washington, DC. She advises clients on all aspects of antitrust law before the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, US courts, and foreign competition authorities. She also defends clients involved in follow-on civil actions and assists clients with internal investigations and compliance programs. Kristen also maintains an active pro bono practice. Her recent pro bono matters include obtaining withholding of removal for an individual from Honduras, obtaining USD 900,000 in compensation from the State of Maryland for a wrongfully convicted individual, and representing an individual in an innocence case in West Virginia. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Kristen was a Litigation Associate working on antitrust matters at another large international law firm. During law school, Kristen was a Legal Research and Writing Fellow and represented clients before the D.C. Superior Court as a student-attorney in Georgetown's Domestic Violence Clinic. She was also a law clerk for the United States Attorney's Office in Greenbelt, MD.

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Creighton Macy is the Chair of Baker McKenzie's North America Antitrust & Competition Practice Group. Creighton is recognized as a leading global antitrust practitioner.

Creighton has extensive experience representing clients in a wide variety of antitrust matters, including mergers and acquisitions, investigations by the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, private litigation, and counselling on issues such as antitrust compliance. Before joining the Firm, Creighton served as Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel in the DOJ Antitrust Division, working as a senior advisor to the Assistant Attorney General on civil and criminal antitrust enforcement and policy matters, as well as budget and personnel issues. During Creighton's time at the DOJ, the Antitrust Division undertook an unprecedented volume of high-profile civil and criminal matters.

Creighton began his career as a Trial Attorney in the Litigation III and Transportation, Energy, and Agriculture sections of the Antitrust Division, working on a number of notable merger and civil non-merger investigations and cases. Before rejoining the Antitrust Division as its Chief of Staff, he was a member of another global law firm's antitrust practice, where he advised clients on a wide range of US and international antitrust issues.

Creighton is consistently recognized globally for his market-leading antitrust practice with respect to high-stakes transactions, investigations, and compliance and counseling work. For example, clients have noted that Creighton “shines above the rest’ due to his first-rate cartel and merger control-related practice.’” He also regularly speaks and publishes articles relating to a variety of antitrust issues, and has been recognized many times for his contributions and thought-leadership on these issues.

Creighton is currently Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s Young Lawyers Task Force. In previous roles, he served as Reporter of the Presidential Transition Task Force, as well as Chair of the Trade, Sports, and Professional Associations Committee. He is highly involved in mentoring programs, including with the Antitrust Law Section, as well as Marquette University Law School, where he previously served as the DC Representative of the Alumni Board.

Creighton graduated from Marquette University, where he was an NCAA Division I Academic All-American tennis player. During his time at Marquette, he was awarded the Athletic Department’s Cura Personalis award by his peers, as well as several leadership awards. More recently, Creighton was named the Athletic Department’s Young Alumnus of the Year Award.

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Jeff Martino brings an in-depth understanding of a wide variety of white collar and fraud related matters to his antitrust litigation and investigations practice. Jeff is co-lead of the Firm's Global Cartel Task Force and represents multinational corporations and their boards and executives in high-stakes criminal and civil investigations by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal and state agencies Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Jeff spent nearly two decades at the DOJ and his last 7 years as a senior leader in two different DOJ components. He has extensive experience as “first chair” on trials and investigations in the most complex areas of criminal antitrust. Jeff's work at the DOJ included providing technical assistance to competition agencies in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe and overseeing matters that included international corruption and antitrust cartel offenses that entangled the largest global banks and their key executives.

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Jennifer Ancona Semko focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation and internal investigations, with more than 20 years of experience litigating in state and federal courts across the United States. Jennifer represents clients in domestic and international disputes and has expertise in cross-border judicial processes. She also has guided clients through investigations by the US Department of Justice, SEC, EPA, NYSE, Senate Finance Committee, United Nations and other government agencies. She is currently the Chair of the Washington Office Litigation and Government Enforcement practice, as well as Co-Chair of the North American Commercial Litigation subgroup.

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Mark Weiss is a partner in the Firm's North America Antitrust & Competition Practice Group. He is an experienced litigator and counselor with proficiency in antitrust litigation, class-action defense, federal multi-district litigation, and no-poach defense. Mark has vigorously and tirelessly represented clients in a variety of industries including manufacturing, mining, high-tech industries, banking, defense contracting, aerospace, and energy.
As an experienced antitrust counsel, Mark has also conducted cartel investigations and internal compliance reviews, and regularly provides antitrust advice on a broad range of non-litigation matters, including sales and distribution advice, antitrust compliance, competitive merger analysis, and merger clearance strategy.
Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Mark worked at another global law firm with a focus on class-action antitrust litigation, including defending a global electronics manufacturer from price-fixing and collusion claims, defending a major global financial institution from antitrust collusion and boycott claims, and defending a large government defense contractor from claims alleging illegal no-poach agreements.

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Audrey van Duyn is an associate in Baker McKenzie's Antitrust & Competition Practice Group in New York. She advises clients on all aspects of antitrust law before the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. Prior to joining the Firm, Audrey was a litigation associate at a large national law firm where she assisted with a variety of civil, criminal, and regulatory matters. During law school, Audrey interned for Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York and for Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. She worked as a research assistant for Professor Daniel J. Capra and focused on evidence and criminal procedure. She was also a member of the Fordham Moot Court and the Fordham Urban Law Journal.

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