Brian Whisler > Baker McKenzie LLP > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile
Baker McKenzie LLP Offices

815 CONNECTICUT AVENUE, N.W.
WASHINGTON, DC 20006
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
United States
- Firm Profile
- Go to...
Brian Whisler

Work Department
Litigation Arbitration and Dispute Resolution
Position
Brian Whisler is a senior leader in the Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice, and has previously served as Chair of the DC Litigation and Government Enforcement Practice Group. He is a member of the Global Compliance and Investigations, Dispute Resolution and Health Care and Life Sciences Practice Groups.
Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Brian served for fifteen years as a federal prosecutor with the US Department of Justice. During that time, he was the Criminal Chief Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond, overseeing and prosecuting cases ranging from white collar crime, violent crime, public corruption, and terrorism. His trial practice focused predominantly on white collar cases, including health care fraud, securities fraud, public corruption, money laundering and tax fraud. He previously served as an Assistant US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina for ten years, where he focused on white collar prosecutions and received the Attorney General’s Award for his prosecutions in a money laundering investigation resulting in convictions of more than 25 defendants after three jury trials and multiple guilty pleas. He also served as Chief of Appeals and Health Care Fraud Coordinator for the same jurisdiction.
Brian has also served as adjunct professor at the University of Richmond, TC Williams School of Law and an instructor at the National Advocacy Center for the US Justice Department in Columbia, South Carolina.
Career
Brian has extensive federal trial and appellate experience, having tried over 30 cases to verdict and argued more than 40 cases at the federal appellate level. He is experienced in handling a broad range of civil and criminal matters, including cases implicating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, False Claims Act, Anti-Money Laundering laws, Health Care Fraud, Securities Fraud, and Procurement Fraud.
Brian has led multijurisdictional internal investigations and provided regulatory advice to multinational and domestic clients across many sectors, including oil and gas services, pharmaceuticals, financial services, manufacturing, and telecommunications. Additionally, he has developed compliance programs for Fortune 50 corporate clients, advised Boards and Audit Committees, guided companies and individuals in government investigations in multiple global jurisdictions and defended clients in criminal and civil litigation. He also represents companies and individual clients in investigations before multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as the US Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and the Global Fund.
Languages
English
Memberships
- International Bar Association – Anti-Corruption Committee – Legislative Officer
- International Bar Association
- Virginia State Bar, Health Care Law Section
- Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists – Member
- Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics
- ABA Global Anti-Corruption Task Force
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
Baker McKenzie LLP stands out for its wealth of experience navigating cross-border investigations in jurisdictions across the globe. The team routinely represents multinational corporations and senior executives under investigation by the SEC and DOJ. Peter Tomczak and Jerome Tomas head the team in Chicago. Tomczak is an expert on FCPA matters, while Tomas has significant experience advising on investigations into securities fraud, insider trading, and money laundering. Leading the team in New York, William Devaney is especially skilled at handling international investigations, including cases relating to false claims, bribery, and embezzlement. Cyrus Vance and Elizabeth Roper are also based in New York, both of whom have expertise in cybercrime. Further to this, the firm has a capable team practicing out of the Washington DC office, which includes Brian Whisler and Maurice Bellan. In particular, Whisler has in-depth experience advising on allegations of health care fraud, public corruption, and tax violations. Marilyn Batonga departed the Washington DC office in November 2023.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Finance > Financial services regulation
- International trade and national security > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- Finance > Project finance
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
Firm Rankings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Dispute resolution > International litigation
- Tax > International tax
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
- Transport > Aviation and air travel: litigation and regulation
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Antitrust > Cartel
- International trade and national security > CFIUS
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- International trade and national security > Trade remedies and trade policy
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense