A former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (Criminal Division), Mr. McGuire has, for nearly twenty years, had a diverse and cutting-edge litigation practice spanning a broad landscape of complex civil litigation and “White Collar” engagements.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Mr. McGuire attended Yale College, from which he graduated Cum Laude and with Distinction, and was elected a Rhodes Scholar. During his three year sojourn in England and while playing professional basketball in Europe, McGuire received a B.A./M.A. with Honours in Jurisprudence from New College, University of Oxford and an LL.M. in International Law from the London School of Economic and Political Science. Returning to the United States, he attended the Harvard Law School, from which he graduated Cum Laude in 1982. Thereafter, he served as Law Clerk to Honorable Stanley A. Weigel, United States District Judge for the Northern District of California (San Francisco) and later worked for several years as a Litigation Associate at Simpson Thacher and Bartlett in New York, before joining the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office where he held the position of Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York for five years.

Upon leaving the government in 1992, Mr. McGuire was an Equity Partner at Mayer Brown and White & Case respectively (1993 – 2004). He left White & Case in 2004 to open, and serve as Founding and Managing Partner of, the first New York Office of Sheppard Mullin. After seeing that office grow substantially over his years there, Mr. McGuire founded Mishcon de Reya LLP New York and today serves as its Managing Partner, overseeing some 15 litigation lawyers.

The record reflects that Mr. McGuire is a highly experienced and extremely successful advocate at the trial and appellate levels. He has successfully conducted and completed approximately 30 criminal and civil trials, as both a prosecutor/plaintiff and counsel to defendants in civil and criminal proceedings. He has argued some 25 Appeals in both federal and state courts. His practice today is often evenly divided between civil disputes (including international arbitrations) and “White Collar” (including grand jury, regulatory, investigative and advisory) assignments.

Mr. McGuire’s Civil Disputes Practice

Mr. McGuire’s civil disputes practice covers practice areas, including securities, banking, fraud, contract, trade secrets, privacy, counterfeiting, professional liability, product liability, employment, entertainment, intellectual property, and “RICO.” He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in major commercial cases across the country. Mr. McGuire has also recently represented prominent foreign entities and individuals in significant international arbitrations.

Among Mr. McGuire’s notable recent cases are the following:

Winning a jury verdict of $159.9 million in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland (Greenbelt) having been retained at the eleventh hour to try a three-year-old complex case three months before the trial date. The suit was against a Fortune 100 company and one of its subsidiaries, as represented by distinguished trial counsel. Final Analysis Communication Services, Inc. v. General Dynamics, et al.

Winning dismissal of all claims brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act against his client, the former President of the Republic of South Korea, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Son v. Kim.

Acting as lead counsel on two large teams of lawyers representing two groups of major Saudi Arabian entities and individuals, securing the dismissal of all claims against his clients in the celebrated class actions and consolidated litigations in the Southern District of New York arising out of the events of September 11, 2001. In re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001.

Successfully prevailing at a preliminary injunction hearing in U.S. District Court in Dallas by securing a mandatory injunction compelling return of a client’s private, L 1011 aircraft, which had been seized and was in the process of foreclosure for the benefit of his client’s adversaries. King Aerospace Commercial Corp. v. Al-Anwa Aviation, Inc. et al.

Serving as lead counsel to a class of visual artists (including photographers and illustrators) in prosecuting the largest copyright infringement class action ever filed. This case is against Google, Inc. challenging its various programs for digitizing printed matter in all forms that includes the work of the artists in the class. ASMP, Inc. et al. v. Google, Inc.

Obtaining the dismissal of all but one of the many claims initially asserted against a foreign bank and affiliated entity sued in a complex contract litigation in Superior Court, Washington, D.C. arising out of a problematic real estate devolvement project in Mississippi. Newshore Development, LLC, et al. v. Falsone, et al.

Recently, Mr. McGuire has been very active in various domestic and international arbitrations under the auspices of the American Arbitration Association, International Centre for Dispute Resolution, International Chamber of Commerce, and London Court of International Arbitration. Mr. McGuire has represented both Claimants and Respondents in these proceedings, the vast majority of which have raised complex contractual and financial issues, often in a cross-border or offshore setting.

Mr. McGuire’s “White Collar” Practice

Mr. McGuire has over 20 years of experience in some of the highest profile “White Collar” matters during that period. From 1987 to 1992, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in that Office's Criminal Division. Between his tenure there and his years in private practice, Mr. McGuire has successfully tried some 30 cases to verdict and argued some 25 matters before state and federal appellate tribunals.

Mr. McGuire’s criminal practice can be broken down into four distinct areas: (i) the representation of individuals and entities during government investigations, including both grand jury and regulatory matters; (ii) representing individuals and entities who have either been indicted or charged with a crime or named in a civil/regulatory action, up to and through trial on the merits and appeals; (iii) the conduct of internal investigations commissioned by both public and private entities, where troublesome and complex issues arise within such entities; and (iv) proactive advice on establishing in-house compliance and oversight programs with regard to ongoing, day-to-day business activities.

In the first such area, Mr. McGuire has represented well over 100 individuals/entities who have found themselves embroiled in some form of government investigation. In well over 95% of those representations Mr. McGuire’s clients have had no charges of any kind brought against them. The subject matter areas of these investigations have spanned the gamut of federal and state criminal laws, including:

RICO, securities fraud, mail, wire, and bank fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, antitrust, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, bribery, and a variety of allegations regarding crimes against the person. Mr. McGuire’s clients have ranged from huge multinational corporations, to celebrities, to persons of modest means and circumstances. In these engagements, Mr. McGuire has regularly and successfully interacted with various federal and state governmental agencies, including (on the federal level) the SEC, FBI, IRS, EPA, DOL, Postal Service, and Customs Service.

In any such engagement, Mr. McGuire’s goal is always to ensure that no charges are lodged and that the matter disappears quickly, quietly, and privately.

In the second area, Mr. McGuire has repeatedly obtained extraordinary results for clients charged either in a criminal or regulatory proceeding, including:

Securing a complete acquittal of a prominent Boston-based investment banker and quasi-governmental agency head in a multi-week trial on criminal tax fraud charges in the Superior Court in Boston Massachusetts. Commonwealth v. Quirk.

Winning a complete reversal on appeal, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, of a U.S. District Court denial of a habeas corpus petition brought by the former Bosnian Ambassador to the United States, whom Bosnia/Herzegovina was attempting to extradite. To our knowledge this is the first matter in many decades in which such relief has been granted in an extradition setting. Sacirbey v. Guccione.

Negotiating and obtaining, on behalf of a former international fund manager at Putnam Investments, the least onerous settlement then granted by the SEC in the spate of "market timing" prosecutions. SEC v. Kamshad.

Securing dismissal of New Jersey State larceny charges, post-Indictment, on behalf of a foreign national unjustly accused. State v. Westfall.

Securing dismissal of New Jersey State fraud, embezzlement, and theft charges against two foreign nationals unjustly accused. State v. Campbell, et. al.

In the third area, Mr. McGuire has conducted numerous internal investigations recently for corporate clients of diverse size and focus. Among the issues involved in such investigations have been possible money laundering, alleged embezzlement and fraud, securities, improper employment practices, tax fraud, FCPA, and bribery.

Finally, Mr. McGuire has on numerous occasions advised a variety of companies and firms on their in-house compliance, audit, and crime prevention activities. A particular area of focus has been designing FCPA compliance programs to head off such problems around the globe before they arise.