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John C. Dwyer is Partner-In-Charge of the Palo Alto office, Co-Chair of the Firm's National Securities Litigation practice and chairs the Firm's Palo Alto Litigation group. He joined the Firm in July 1998 and serves on the Firm's Management Committee.
Mr. Dwyer's practice includes a variety of litigation, negotiation and counseling services in both civil and criminal matters. He has developed substantial expertise in numerous areas, including securities law; officer and director liability matters; mergers and acquisitions litigation; antitrust; white collar litigation; professional liability matters; mail and wire fraud; False Claims Act; and unfair competition claims.
Mr. Dwyer has successfully defended numerous companies and their officers and directors in actions arising from corporate acquisitions and other major corporate transactions. He has extensive experience handling such cases in Delaware courts as well as other courts around the country.
In addition to representing clients in federal and state courts, Mr. Dwyer regularly advises public and private companies and their officers and directors on a broad range of issues regarding fiduciary duties, disclosure matters, litigation strategy and compliance matters. He has also conducted numerous special investigations into allegations of possible misconduct on behalf of corporate boards and board committees.
Representative clients include Adobe Inc., Brocade Communications Systems Inc., Ernst & Young LLP, Genencor International Inc., Gilead Sciences Inc., Morrison & Foerster LLP, NVIDIA Corporation, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, and Power Integrations Inc.
Mr. Dwyer was named among the 2008 Lawdragon's list of 100 Lawyers You Need to Know in Securities Litigation, named in the fifth annual Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, and named as one of Northern California's "Super Lawyers" in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In 2005, Mr. Dwyer was named California Lawyer of the Year in securities law by California Lawyer magazine. The award was in recognition of, among other things, Mr. Dwyer's successful defense of an enforcement action brought by the Securities & Exchange Commission against Siebel Systems, Inc. and two of its officers in the first contested action seeking the enforcement of the SEC's Regulation FD. Also in 2005, a major pro bono litigation brought and won by Mr. Dwyer on behalf of legal immigrants against the United States Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security was recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the top four pro bono cases nationally.
Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Dwyer served from January to December 1997, as the Acting Associate Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice. Mr. Dwyer was selected for the post, the third highest in the Department of Justice, by President Clinton. As Acting Associate Attorney General, he oversaw the Department's Antitrust, Civil, Environment and Natural Resources, Civil Rights and Tax divisions. From 1993 to 1997, Mr. Dwyer served as Deputy Associate Attorney General. In that capacity, he served as a senior advisor to Attorney General Janet Reno on a wide variety of civil and criminal enforcement issues and acted as a primary liaison with the White House Counsel's Office.
Mr. Dwyer earned a J.D., magna cum laude , from Harvard Law School in 1988. He received a B.S., summa cum laude, in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley in 1984 where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, he was an associate with Jackson, Tufts, Cole & Black in San Francisco.
Prior to attending law school, Mr. Dwyer worked as an auditor at Arthur Andersen & Co.
Mr. Dwyer is admitted to practice in California and the District of Columbia and is a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court.
Education- Harvard Law School
JD, 1988, magna cum laude - University of California, Berkeley
BA Business Administration, 1984, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
Court Admissions
- United States Supreme Court
Admissions
- California
- District of Columbia
Memberships
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