Neil Smith is the co-leader of the firm’s Investigations, Enforcement, and White Collar practice group and a resident in the Boston office. His practice focuses on government investigations, securities enforcement, internal investigations, and white collar defense representations. He has extensive experience advising clients in global investigations involving potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws.
Neil represents corporations and individuals in a wide range of criminal and regulatory matters, including investigations conducted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, FINRA, and other federal and state authorities. His practice also involves counseling clients on best practices and risk mitigation strategies in securities regulation, compliance policies and controls, accounting practices, cryptocurrency issues, regulatory examinations, and FCPA and anti-corruption compliance.
Prior to joining the firm, Neil served as senior counsel in the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for more than six years, where he was a member of the SEC's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act specialized unit. He is a recognized expert in FCPA enforcement and a frequent speaker at industry conferences. His experience includes extensive collaboration with U.S. and foreign criminal and regulatory authorities in complex, cross-border investigations. While at the SEC, Neil also had extensive experience investigating financial services firms and other companies for violations including securities fraud, investor misrepresentations, and marketing violations. Since joining K&L Gates, Neil has continued to represent clients in securities enforcement matters, complex, cross-border investigations involving government investigations, and proactive risk assessments and reviews.
