Michael R. Lazerwitz is a partner based in the New York office.
Mr. Lazerwitz's practice includes a range of commercial, governmental enforcement, and criminal and trial appellate litigation. He represents clients in private class action suits filed in federal and state courts, as well as criminal antitrust investigations and prosecutions brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and foreign competition authorities, including the European Commission. In the past twenty years, Mr. Lazerwitz has represented clients in many high-profile, complex international cartel investigations including in the following industries: interbank lending rates, liquid crystal displays, air cargo, graphite electrodes, food additives, cathode ray tubes, and feed additives. Mr. Lazerwitz has extensive experience representing institutions in investigations conducted by federal banking supervisory authorities, such as the Federal Reserve Board, as well as conducting internal corporate investigations for issues arising under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, bank secrecy and money laundering provisions, and customs regulations. He has also worked on a wide range of diverse and complex commercial litigation, environmental and product liability litigation, and diverse appellate litigation.
Mr. Lazerwitz joined the firm in 1991 and became a partner in 1994. From 1991 to 2011, he was resident in the Washington, D.C. office. Prior to joining the firm, he served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General for the U.S. Department of Justice, where he represented the United States and various federal agencies before the U.S. Supreme Court. During this time, Mr. Lazerwitz argued eight cases before the Supreme Court, including
Reves v. Ernst & Young, 494 U.S. 56 (1990),
Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575 (1990), and
Burns v. Reed, 500 U.S. 478 (1991). From 1985 to 1988, Mr. Lazerwitz was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Lazerwitz received a J.D. degree in 1983 from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was the articles editor of the
Law Review. He received an undergraduate degree,
magna cum laude, from Princeton University in 1980. Mr. Lazerwitz also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1983 to 1984 and to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1984 to 1985.
Mr. Lazerwitz is a member of the Bars of the District of Columbia, New York and Pennsylvania and is admitted to practice before a number of federal district and appellate courts. Mr. Lazerwitz has served on panels regarding criminal and civil antitrust enforcement for the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association and bank secrecy and money laundering regulations for the Institute of International Bankers.
Mr. Lazerwitz is a member of the American Law Institute.