Brown Rudnick LLP is pleased to announce that white collar defense attorney Stephen A. Best has joined the Firm’s Washington, D.C. office as a partner in the White Collar Defense and Government Investigations Group. Prior to joining Brown Rudnick, Mr. Best served as the chair of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s White Collar Criminal Defense and Investigations Group. Angela Papalaskaris is also joining Brown Rudnick’s White Collar Defense and Government Investigations Group as a senior associate in the New York office.
The addition of Mr. Best represents the latest step in Brown Rudnick’s aggressive expansion of its global white collar practice. During the last six months Brown Rudnick has added three other white collar partners to the group: Former Chief Counsel to the SEC Division of Enforcement Thomas A. Ferrigno in Washington, D.C.; Mark Beardsworth, formerly of Kingsley Napley, in London; and, most recently, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Cook in Brown Rudnick’s newest office in Orange County, California.
Mr. Best regularly represents high profile clients, including businessman Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, regarding an insider trading complaint brought by the SEC. He advises clients on all aspects of corporate governance including complex internal investigations, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance strategies, grand jury and independent counsel investigations, parallel proceedings, complex civil litigation, and trial practice before federal and state tribunals.
Mr. Best has represented numerous companies, both public and privately held, as well as various individuals in multiple, separate FCPA investigations. He has also represented numerous public companies before the NYAG investment protection unit and represented a public company in parallel SEC and DOJ investigations surrounding allegations of questionable valuations in the company’s asset portfolio.
“We are delighted to welcome Steve and Angela to the Firm,” said Joseph F. Ryan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Brown Rudnick. “For more than two decades, Steve has built a national reputation as an extremely effective and successful attorney in high stakes government investigations and white collar defense matters. As government enforcement agencies around the globe continue to focus intense attention on corporations and their top executives, Brown Rudnick is well positioned to assist our clients with our greatly expanded defense and investigative capabilities.”
Mark Tuohey, head of Brown Rudnick’s White Collar Defense and Government Investigations Group in the U.S., added, “Steve will greatly enhance the depth and strength of our white collar and enforcement practices given his tremendous experience with a wide range of regulatory areas.”
“I am very pleased to be joining a firm with a reputation for excellence and dedication to client service,” said Mr. Best. “The diversity and sophistication of Brown Rudnick’s practices will be of great value to my own clients.”
Mr. Best received his B.A., cum laude, from Washington & Lee University and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.
Angela Papalaskaris, previously with Dewey & LeBoeuf, has substantial experience representing public corporations, regulated entities such as investment advisers and broker-dealers, and private individuals in a wide variety of white-collar investigations and regulatory enforcement proceedings involving both state and federal law enforcement authorities. Ms. Papalaskaris also has extensive experience in conducting both internal investigations and comprehensive reviews of organizational compliance programs, and advising clients on implementation of best practices in legal regulatory compliance. She received her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
