Bio

Jan is an accomplished investigations and trial lawyer with a national and international practice and a recognized authority on business crimes and white collar criminal defense. He represents individual and corporate clients, both foreign and domestic, in investigations, criminal prosecutions, complex civil litigation and regulatory enforcement actions in the United States and abroad. Jan also conducts corporate internal investigations and advises clients on law compliance, risk avoidance and crisis management.

An experienced trial lawyer, Jan has tried well over 100 jury trials and numerous bench trials to verdict in the U.S. federal and state courts. He has represented clients in the full spectrum of white collar criminal investigations and defense, including allegations of securities fraud, money laundering & wire fraud, tax & bank fraud, public corruption, environmental & cyber crimes, export controls & healthcare fraud, as well as bribery and "books & records" violations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Earlier, Jan served as a federal prosecutor in the Special Prosecutions & Major Frauds Section of the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, where he conducted federal grand jury investigations and prosecuted fraud cases at trial and on appeal. Subsequently, he was one of the first independent law compliance monitors appointed under the FCPA for three years to oversee and evaluate the operations of a multinational corporation. Jan is also one of only a handful of US lawyers to have successfully defended clients at trial in a major FCPA prosecution, United States v. Lindsey Mfg. Co.

Jan has been named one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California,” an honor given by the state’s leading legal publication, The Daily Journal, to “the state’s most influential attorneys.” He is a recipient of the California Lawyer Magazine Attorneys of the Year Award (the CLAY Award) for “extraordinary achievement” in criminal law and was honored with the White Collar Criminal Defense Award, presented by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ (NACDL). Jan was also honored with the Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Memorial Award for “exemplary commitment, exceptional skill and great achievement benefiting both his clients and the criminal justice community," presented by the Criminal Courts Bar Association of Los Angeles.

Many national & international publications have recognized Jan for his accomplishments, including all 27 editions of Best Lawyers in America - US News & World Report, from 1983 through 2021; Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers; The American Lawyer Magazine; Law Business Research Ltd. publications The International Who’s Who of Business Crime Lawyers and Who’s Who Legal: Investigations Attorneys; Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Litigation Lawyers; and Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers.

Jan is past Co-Chair of the International Bar Association's Business Crime Committee and has held numerous leadership positions in the American Bar Association's (ABA) Criminal Justice and International Law Sections. He is also a past Chair of the ABA's National White-Collar Crime Committee and served on the ABA President's Task Force on the Attorney-Client Privilege.

Jan frequently speaks and presents panels on transnational criminal law, criminal and regulatory investigations, and trial practice. He has organized conferences and mock trials at home and abroad, including presentations in Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Dubai, Dublin, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Miami Beach, Panama City, São Paulo, Vienna and Washington DC.

Jan Lawrence Handzlik

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