Success Stories

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Among Clarence & Dyer’s notable cases:

  • We successfully represented an energy trader charged with fraud and market manipulation in the first reported criminal case brought under the price manipulation prohibitions of the Commodities Exchange Act. Widely recognized as one of the major white collar prosecutions in the Northern District of California, the case resulted in a deferred prosecution and no criminal conviction.
  • We represent Pacific Gas and Electric Company in several complex, high-stakes civil matters before both Superior and Appellate Courts statewide.
  • We represent multiple senior executives under investigation for alleged involvement in stock-option backdating practices.
  • We represent a central figure in the high-profile federal BALCO prosecution related to steroids and other performance enhancing substances.
  • We represent individuals in connection with the ongoing Southern District of New York prosecution of KPMG for allegedly illegal tax-structured transactions.
  • We have represented numerous individuals and corporations nationwide facing joint investigations into alleged accounting fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice, obtaining favorable resolutions that avoided substantial penalties and jail sentences. We are experienced in every kind of white-collar investigation and prosecution, from revenue recognition fraud to theft of trade secrets to environmental matters, as well as various criminal and civil copyright infringement and other intellectual property cases.
  • We represented an individual charged in one of the first criminal prosecutions brought by the Enron Task Force in the Southern District of Texas, as well as before the SEC in Washington, D.C.
  • We represented a former high-ranking executive at Homestore.com in both SEC and DOJ investigations into allegations of revenue recognition fraud. No charges were filed against our client.
  • We represented the former President of Critical Path, a publicly-traded software company, in a securities fraud prosecution in the Northern District of California.
  • We achieved a favorable pre-trial resolution for a former Cisco software engineer facing serious charges of stealing trade secrets from his employer.
  • We defended, in a federal criminal trial, the president of a savings & loan institution who faced wire and mail fraud charges in the Northern District of California. The government dismissed all charges.
  • We represented dozens of employees of a publicly-traded corporation in grand jury proceedings initiated by the Department of Justice Antitrust Division in San Francisco.
  • We have represented several individuals and small businesses under investigation for alleged workers compensation insurance fraud.
  • We vigorously defended a San Francisco financial professional accused of felony sexual assault, eventually winning dismissal of all charges after our cross-examination of the alleged victim.
  • We defended the City and County of San Francisco against a challenge to the constitutionality of the City's business tax, which exposed the City to potential losses of more than $600 million. After substantial, hard-fought litigation, we negotiated a settlement for a fraction of that amount, which was approved by the Board of Supervisors after extensive and heated public hearings.
  • In a ground-breaking civil rights case, we won a jury trial and an award of $750,000 plus punitive damages for our client who was unlawfully strip-searched in the San Francisco County jail. In a separate victory, a jury awarded our clients over $400,000 after officers from the Pinole Police Department shot and injured them in violation of their constitutional rights.
  • In the wake of an explosion and fire at an oil refinery, we represented various managers in connection with a far-reaching criminal and regulatory investigation conducted by state workplace safety and environmental authorities. The matter was resolved without the filing of criminal charges.
  • Through effective pre-trial motions, we secured an extremely favorable settlement for a client facing life in prison in a nationally-publicized homicide case. In the course of that representation, we minimized public scrutiny of our client by defeating repeated media attempts to gain access to sensitive evidence at issue in the case, litigating the issue all the way to the California Supreme Court.
  • We represented an individual in an investigation under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act focused on the exportation of nuclear-related equipment. After extensive investigation and negotiations, the Department of Justice declined to file charges.
  • We have represented elected and appointed officials – as well as political consultants – in connection with federal and state criminal investigations. We successfully defended clients under investigation for alleged violations of campaign finance and election laws as well as federal and state bribery and conflict of interest laws.

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Our clients include Fortune 500 companies, small closely-held businesses, local municipalities and agencies, and a diverse array of individuals seeking effective representation in resolving complex legal issues.