PEPPER HAMILTON EXPANDS WHITE COLLAR AND CORPORATE INVESTIGATIONS TEAM WITH ADDITION OF GREGORY A. PAW, FEDERAL AND STATE PROSECUTOR
Princeton, NJ – June 9, 2008 (LAWFUEL) – Pepper Hamilton LLP announced that Gregory A. Paw – director of the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, a former Deputy U.S. Attorney and an experienced trial lawyer – will join the firm as a partner on June 30, 2008. He will practice with the firm’s White Collar and Corporate Investigations Practice Group and the Commercial Litigation Practice Group, and divide his time between the Princeton and Philadelphia offices.
Mr. Paw is currently director of New Jersey’s Division of Criminal Justice, in the Office of the Attorney General, a position he has held since early 2006. There, he has led the statewide office responsible for enforcing New Jersey’s criminal laws and supervised more than 800 lawyers, investigators and staff in the investigation of complex criminal cases involving corruption, narcotics, money laundering, health care fraud and financial crimes. He has addressed problems as diverse as attacking rising homicide rates across New Jersey to how best to protect students in school settings from kindergarten to college.
The Division achieved significant accomplishments under Mr. Paw’s leadership, including the successful prosecution of public corruption and violent gangs, as well as the conviction of former state senator and Newark mayor Sharpe James, and most recently, former state assemblyman and Orange mayor Mims Hackett, Jr.
“Greg is not only an accomplished federal and state prosecutor; he is a leader and a recognized first-chair litigator,” said Thomas M. Gallagher, chairman of Pepper Hamilton’s White Collar and Corporate Investigations Practice Group. “His depth of experience, his superb investigative skills and his sterling reputation will significantly benefit the firm and our clients.”
Mr. Paw has a long history as a prosecutor. In 1995, after six years in private practice with Baker & Hostetler in Washington, D.C., he joined the U.S. Department of Justice as a trial attorney. In 1997, he moved to the United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where he served for nine years, including as Deputy U.S. Attorney in 2005-2006.
During his tenure with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Paw served for 11 months as Deputy Chief Counsel of the Regime Crimes Liaison Office in Baghdad, where he and his team helped prepare the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the prosecution of Saddam Hussein and other high-ranking members of the former Iraqi regime. For his work, Mr. Paw received the U.S. Attorney General’s Special Commendation Award.
He also has tried many criminal cases and supervised numerous government investigations, including several Philadelphia corruption matters and the corruption case against a Pennsylvania state senate majority leader. In 2003, he was named by The American Lawyer magazine as one of the 11 rising stars among federal prosecutors nationwide.
“I am excited to join Pepper’s white collar and corporate investigations team and to work again with Tom Gallagher and Mike Schwartz, two of my former colleagues at the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said Mr. Paw. “Pepper is a great fit for my background and experience.”
Tom Gallagher joined Pepper Hamilton in 2003; he had served as the main health care fraud prosecutor in the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Michael A. Schwartz joined Pepper in February 2008; he had headed the Corruption, Civil Rights, Labor and Tax Fraud unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Paw received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois (B.S. 1985) and his law degree from the College of William & Mary School of Law (J.D. 1988). Following law school, he clerked for one year for the Honorable Walter E. Hoffman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
About Pepper Hamilton
Pepper Hamilton LLP (www.pepperlaw.com) is a multi-practice law firm with more than 500 lawyers in seven states and the District of Columbia. The firm provides corporate, litigation and regulatory legal services to leading businesses, governmental entities, nonprofit organizations and individuals throughout the nation and the world. The firm was founded in 1890.
The firm’s Commercial Litigation Practice Group, with more than 100 lawyers, represents clients in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the country.
Pepper Hamilton’s White Collar and Corporate Investigations Practice Group comprises an interdisciplinary team of 40 lawyers with significant government investigations and trial experience. They focus on white collar criminal defense and counseling, corporate investigations and corporate compliance programs. The group includes former federal and state prosecutors and former Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority enforcement lawyers. They work seamlessly to represent clients facing criminal or civil investigations, regulatory enforcement and civil litigation, which often proceed on parallel tracks. Areas in which they have particular experience include health care, pharmaceuticals, medical device, securities, government procurement, antitrust, corruption, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, environmental and criminal tax.
