Michael J. Madigan

Michael J. Madigan is a litigation partner in Orrick's Washington, D.C., office.  Mr. Madigan has more than 30 years of experience in white collar criminal investigations, congressional and corporate investigations, corporate governance issues and Washington, D.C., legislative and political issues.  He began his legal career by serving as a federal prosecutor where he tried more than 100 jury trials.  At age 30, he served as Counsel to Senator Howard Baker on the historic Senate Watergate Committee.  In addition, Mr. Madigan has served as Chief Counsel for Senator Fred Thompson’s Campaign Finance investigation, Counsel to the Church Committee and Minority Counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

Mr. Madigan has successfully defended corporate and individual clients (including law firms and accounting firms) in a variety of complex criminal, civil and congressional investigations; conducted corporate internal investigations and counseled on corporate governance and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues.

The following is a sample of his notable cases/clients.

• Successfully defended the former KPMG Chairman of Tax Department in U.S. v. Stein et al., which led to the revocation of the Thompson Memorandum and a new case law in the white collar corporate arena.  See U.S. v. Stein (opinions entitled Stein I-IV).
• Successfully defended a Chiquita employee in criminal and congressional investigations – no charges brought against client in a criminal DOJ investigation in which the Chiquita corporation entered a guilty plea.
• Represents a public company in ongoing criminal (FCPA), SEC and congressional investigations.
• Represents a high ranking corporate officer in a DOJ criminal antitrust investigation of cargo airlines.
• Represents public company officers in several ongoing FCPA investigations.
• Successfully defended the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire in the State’s first ever Impeachment Trial before the Senate of New Hampshire, in which he was acquitted.
• Successfully the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in a special investigation by the Judicial Council of the District of Columbia Circuit and in a parallel congressional investigation.
• Represented a corporate Chairman of the Board in a two year Securities and Exchange Commission investigation which was closed with no charge letter.
• Represented Congressman Patten in House Ethics Committee trial in which he was acquitted of all charges.
• Represented HealthSouth Outside Directors in a Congressional investigation and hearings, and in the Scrushy criminal trial in the Middle District of Alabama.
• Represented numerous companies and individuals in Congressional investigations.
• Represented several public companies and individuals in FCPA investigations.
• Represented the former Senate Judiciary Committee Chief Counsel (now sitting judge) in a domestic relations trial.
• Represented Continental Airlines pilots in the largest (76 trial days) airline pilot “integration trial” in airline history.
• Conducted several internal investigations of alleged fraudulent activities for public and private companies.

Mr. Madigan has been elected to and/or been asked to serve on a variety of boards and has been involved in the major decision-making of each organization, including the Board of Governors of the D.C. Bar (elected to two three-year terms); the Board of Trustees of the District of Columbia Public Defender Service; the Boards of Directors of the Robert A. Shuker Scholarship Fund, Inc.; the Frederick B. Abramson Memorial Foundation, the D.C. Conference on Opportunities for Minorities in the Legal Profession, the Council for Court Excellence and the Bar Association of the District of Columbia (elected to two two-year terms).

Mr. Madigan has been appointed to serve on a number of commissions and committees, including the District of Columbia Federal Judicial Nominating Commission (federal judge selection), the Magistrate Judge Selection Committee (Vice Chairman), the D.C. Judicial Nomination Commission (local judge selection), the D.C. Circuit Judicial Conference and the Mayor’s Corporation Counsel Advisory Committee.  He has taught Trial Advocacy at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy for the past 20 years, where he received the “Justin Simon Award for Excellence in Teaching” and has been a Delegate to both the D.C. Circuit and D.C. Judicial Conferences for the last 15 years.

Mr. Madigan is a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a “Master” in the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court.  He is a Member of the Barristers, the Lawyers Club and the Cosmos Club. 

Multimedia

Speeches & Programs

• Panelist, “ Congressional Investigations: An Inside Look at a Unique Forum,” ABA White Collar Crime National Institute (March 2008)
• Speaker, “Congressional Investigations,” The Bar Association of San Francisco (June 2007)
• Panelist, “How to Reform the Electoral System and Should One?,” Cosmos Club Legal Affairs Committee (April 2008)
• Panelist, "Bull's Eye on Companies – Defending the Corporation, Including Going to Trial," The NACDL and Georgetown Law CLE program Defending the White Collar Case (November 2008)
• Panelist, “The Obstruction of Justice,” The Federalist Society’s Criminal Law and Procedure Practice Group (May 2008)
• Panelist, “Exploring the KPMG Criminal Case,” ABA White Collar Crime National Institute (March 2008)
• Panelist, “Recent Developments and Current Issues Related to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Cases,” ABA White Collar Crime Committee DC Regional Subcommittee (October 2007)
• Moderator, Conversation with Jeffrey Taylor, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, ABA White Collar Crime Committee DC Regional Subcommittee (March 2007)
• Moderator, Pupilage Group, “McNulty Memo,” Edward Bennett Williams American Inn of Court (February 2007)