James L. Sanders is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, based in the Firm’s Los Angeles, California office. As head of the Los Angeles Trial Department, Jim’s practice concentrates on white-collar criminal defense, securities litigation, and the representation of clients in investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Jim has more than 25 years experience handling securities litigation, business crimes investigations and civil and criminal trials. Jim has unique expertise in representing clients in parallel SEC and criminal investigations. He is one of the few attorneys nationwide who has worked both for the SEC and as a federal prosecutor. From 1989 to 1991, he was in charge of the SEC’s Regional Office located in Los Angeles; and, prior to that, was an attorney with the SEC’s Regional Office in Chicago. He also was a federal prosecutor in the Special Prosecutions Division of the United States Attorney’s Office in Chicago and in the Major Frauds Division of the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
As a prosecutor, Jim was involved in over 40 federal criminal trials, including trials involving stock market manipulation, insider trading, RICO offenses, and bribery of public officials. Among the securities cases he has tried are the following: United States v. Bernhardt (stock market manipulation of Olympia Brewing stock); United States v. Atkinson (insider trading and filing false Form 10-K reports with the SEC); and United States v. DeShano (insider trading).
In addition to criminal cases, Jim has tried civil SEC injunctive actions and administrative proceedings. He has also represented brokerage firms and individuals in securities arbitrations and in disciplinary proceedings before the National Association of Securities Dealers and the New York Stock Exchange. As a regular part of his practice, Jim represents clients in a wide variety of civil and criminal cases and in investigations conducted by the SEC, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and other governmental entities.
Jim has garnered a number of professional accolades, including rankings in Best Lawyers in America, in the "business crimes" section of the International Who's Who of Business Lawyers and in Southern California Super Lawyers. Jim is admitted to practice in California. Representative matters handled by Jim include:
Securities
- Successfully represented a lawyer in a criminal trial involving securities fraud, RICO and money-laundering allegations
- Successfully represented the former Controller of a major computer firm at trial in an SEC civil action alleging improper revenue recognition
- Represented a former executive officer of an Internet company in criminal and civil investigations involving allegations that the company recorded fictitious revenues
- Represented a Big Five auditor in an SEC investigation into the auditor’s role in an audit that failed to uncover improper revenue recognition by an audit client
- Represented a public company in a New York Stock Exchange inquiry into possible insider trading
- Represented the former president of a large telecommunications firm in criminal and SEC actions involving allegations of managed earnings, insider trading and financial statement fraud
- Represented the outside directors of a public corporation in parallel SEC and criminal investigations involving allegations that the corporation filed false financial reports with the SEC
- Represented a brokerage firm in parallel SEC and criminal investigations into possible stock market manipulation
Internal Investigations
- Conducted an internal investigation for a special committee of the Board of Directors of a public company into allegations of insider trading and the possible omission of material adverse financial information from the company’s SEC filings
- Conducted an internal investigation for the outside directors of the Board of Directors of a public company into allegations that corporate revenues were falsified to support the company’s IPO price
- Conducted an internal investigation for a major pharmaceutical company into “drug tampering” allegations
Energy
- Represented Ross Perot, Sr. and Perot Systems in highly publicized congressional hearings concerning the California energy crisis and in related civil litigation
- Represented a national energy company in criminal investigations involving allegations that the company inflated its revenues through fictitious transactions
- Represented a national brokerage firm in civil litigation arising out of California energy crisis
Industrial Accidents
- Represented a Morton Salt Company plant manager, who was found not guilty, in a four-week manslaughter trial resulting from death of a plant worker
- Represented the site supervisor at an open pit mine in an OSHA investigation into the accidental death of a worker
Jim is a past member of the Executive Committee of the Business and Corporations Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He is also a member of the American Bar Association’s White Collar Crime Committee and is a frequent speaker on securities law issues. Among his recent speaking engagements are the following:
- Speaker at a KPMG conference: “The Role of the Audit Committee and Corporate Director Liability"
- Speaker at National Association of Corporate Directors conference: “The Potential Liability of Corporate Directors"
- Moderator at ABA White Collar Crime Committee Seminar dealing with the conduct of parallel investigations by the SEC and U. S. Attorney's Office
- Panelist on the “SEC Enforcement Issues” panel at 2004 ABA National White Collar Crime Seminar
- Panelist on “Internal Investigations” panel at 2005 ABA National White Collar Crime Seminar
Recent Publications Include
- “The Role of Special Committees in Overseeing Internal Investigations” – National Association of Corporate Director’s Journal, Director Monthly, June 2006
- “The Impact of Sarbanes Oxley on the Right to Indemnification” – D&O Advisor, Spring 2004
Education
- University of Tulsa Law School, J.D., 1973
- Drake University, B.S., 1970
