Preston Burton, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office, is a member of the Litigation Group. Mr. Burton's practice focuses on white collar criminal defense and regulatory investigations. He represents companies and individuals in trials and government investigations, as well as related parallel civil and administrative proceedings and congressional investigations. Mr. Burton has extensive experience in cases involving securities, accounting, and procurement fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, public corruption, international extraditions and matters involving national security.
In 2004 and 2007, Mr. Burton was named by Washingtonian magazine as one of Washington's leading criminal defense attorneys. He was selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2007 and 2008 editions of The Best Lawyers in America in the field of white collar criminal defense. Before joining Orrick, Mr. Burton represented Monica S. Lewinsky in the investigation of President William J. Clinton by the Office of Independent Counsel and in the impeachment proceedings before the U.S. Senate. He also represented former CIA intelligence agent Aldrich H. Ames, former FBI Special Agent Robert Hanssen, and former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Ana Belen Montes in their high-profile espionage prosecutions.
The following are additional examples of his notable cases:
- Representation of former senior executive of the Enron Corporation in connection with investigations by the Department of Justice Enron Task Force and Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Representation of former Chairman and CEO of publicly traded Internet company in connection with the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of AOL/TimeWarner's earnings recognition.
- Representation of former senior executive of Washington-based bank in connection with a Department of Justice and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency investigation of alleged regulatory banking violations and money laundering activities.
- Representation of former insurance company executives and employees in connection with the investigation of insurance industry practices by the New York Attorney General's Office, Department of Justice, and Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Representation of former Pentagon official in connection with Department of Justice and Department of Defense investigation of the receipt of classified materials by a defense contractor.
- Representation of government contractor in connection with an Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice investigation of compliance with hazardous waste abatement regulations.
- Representation of an Assistant General Counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency in connection with Department of Justice, Inspector General, and congressional investigation relating to allegations of obstruction of justice.
- Representation of former foreign intelligence official in connection with a Department of Justice, Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission, and New York District Attorney's Office investigation of BCCI and its relationship with First American Bank.
Before joining Orrick, Mr. Burton was a partner at Caplin & Drysdale in Washington and a partner at the Law Offices of Plato Cacheris in Washington.
From 1994 to 1998, Mr. Burton was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. He finished his government service in the Economic Crimes Section with the successful trial and conviction of the former head of the D.C. Taxicab Commission on bribery, gratuities and theft charges.
Since leaving government service, Mr. Burton has regularly provided legal representation to indigent clients in federal district court in Washington. In one of those matters, Mr. Burton obtained a complete acquittal following a jury trial and, in another, the grant of a new trial arising from the government's failure to disclose evidence favorable to the defense.
Mr. Burton has tried approximately fifty cases to verdict and has handled approximately ten appeals before the D.C. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, and Fourth Circuit. He has served as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University School of Law and is a frequent lecturer and commentator on matters related to white collar crime.
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