William A. Burck is a partner in the White Collar Defense & Investigations Group. He was formerly Deputy Counsel to the President and a federal prosecutor in New York City. Mr. Burck advises clients on sensitive government and internal investigations relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the federal securities laws, the False Claims Act (FCA), health care fraud, procurement fraud, public corruption, compliance with OFAC, CFIUS and other international trade and investment restrictions, and other white collar criminal and civil matters. He regularly conducts internal investigations on behalf of boards of directors and companies and represents clients before federal, state, and local government entities including, among others, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Congressional committees, State Attorneys General, District Attorney’s Offices, and the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP).
Mr. Burck is a member of Weil’s Financial Regulatory Reform Working Group, advising clients concerning new financial reform legislation and its impact upon litigation strategy and risks.
Mr. Burck has served as a senior advisor in the White House in various capacities, most recently as Deputy Counsel and Special Counsel to former President George W. Bush. In those roles, he helped supervise a team of over 30 attorneys and other staff in the White House Counsel’s Office advising the President and senior White House and Administration officials on major legal issues confronting the Administration. His principal focus was on congressional oversight and investigations, crisis management, financial regulation and economic policy (including issues related to financial rescue and reform legislation and regulation), national security, nominations and confirmations of senior Administration officials, and transition to the new Administration. He also served as the principal White House Counsel liaison to senior leadership of the Department of Justice and General Counsel offices of various Administration departments and agencies, including the Department of Treasury, the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Mr. Burck has served as a senior official in the Department of Justice as Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, advising Department leadership on legislative and policy matters affecting criminal law enforcement in a range of areas, including white collar crime and sentencing. He was also an Assistant United States Attorney in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he tried criminal cases, including as a member of the government’s trial team for United States v. Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic, briefed and argued appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and investigated and prosecuted a wide range of crimes including securities and other financial frauds, money laundering, organized crime, and narcotics and weapons trafficking.
Mr. Burck is a graduate of Yale Law School, where he received his J.D. and served as Editor-in-Chief of The Yale Law Journal. Mr. Burck also pursued doctoral studies at Harvard University’s Department of Government and received his B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in both Political Science and International Studies from Yale University. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States and to the Honorable Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.