Former Assistant US Attorney Gayle Littleton Joins Jenner & Block's Chicago Office as Partner in White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice

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Nov 09, 2015, 10:46 ET

CHICAGO, Nov. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Jenner & Block is pleased to announce that Gayle E. Littleton, a former federal prosecutor, is joining the firm as a partner in its Chicago office. She is a member of the internationally recognized White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice, which is involved in some of the most high-profile investigations in the world.

Ms. Littleton brings a wealth of experience investigating and prosecuting public corruption; bank, mortgage and wire fraud cases; and money laundering and trafficking matters. She tried 18 cases in her 12 years as an assistant US attorney (AUSA), both in the Northern District of Illinois and the Northern District of Florida.

"With her wide-ranging experience as a federal prosecutor, Gayle will hit the ground running in supporting the White Collar team's major investigations," said Terrence J. Truax, Jenner & Block managing partner. "We handle highly sensitive matters around the world for our clients, and Gayle provides significant bench strength in further expanding our considerable white collar and litigation capabilities. She is a great fit, and we are excited to have her aboard."

From 2003 to 2008, Ms. Littleton served as an AUSA for the Northern District of Illinois. In that role, she served on the prosecution team that investigated and prosecuted former Illinois Governor George Ryan's chief of staff and others for their involvement in a bid-rigging scheme and led a complex multi-district wiretap investigation of a Mexican drug cartel. As an AUSA in Florida starting in 2008, Ms. Littleton conducted high-level prosecutions involving Coastal Community Bank's chief executive officer, chief financial officer and lawyer involved in a large fraud scheme and mortgage brokers, an investor, a title agent and a lawyer in a regulatory mortgage-fraud matter. In 2014, she was promoted to senior litigation counsel; in that role, she advised the US attorney and reviewed proposed indictments. She also led a violent-crimes working group.

"Gayle brings the sophisticated trial and investigatory experience that will continue to position our international White Collar team as an elite practice," said Reid J. Schar, a co-chair of the firm's White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice. He previously worked with Ms. Littleton when he served as an AUSA in Illinois. "Her judgment and litigation skills will be assets to our clients."

Ms. Littleton said: "It's an honor to join Jenner & Block, not only to become part of the White Collar and Investigations Practice but also part of its extensive team of best-in-class litigators. I'm looking forward to working with former and new colleagues and using my experience to make a difference for our clients."

Before working as a federal prosecutor, Ms. Littleton was in private practice with international law firms in Boston and Chicago. She began her career as a law clerk for the Hon. Gerald W. Heaney of the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the Hon. Joseph L. Tauro of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She received her law degree, magna cum laude, from Cornell Law School in 1999 and her BA from Stetson University in 1994.

ABOUT JENNER & BLOCK'S WHITE COLLAR DEFENSE AND INVESTIGATIONS PRACTICE

For more than 60 years, Jenner & Block has represented individuals and corporations in complex criminal prosecutions and handled the most sensitive and highest-profile investigations of record. Our lawyers have tried hundreds of jury and bench trials to verdict and conducted countless investigations of potential wrongdoing. We represent individuals and businesses in criminal prosecutions, grand jury investigations, extradition proceedings and civil enforcement actions brought by state and federal agencies, including the Securities Exchange Commission. Our practice includes two former United States attorneys; 10 former assistant US attorneys and several former supervisors of US attorney's offices; the former head of the Criminal Division of the New York Attorney General's office; and the former special inspector general of the historic US$700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program. In 2015, Global Investigations Review named Jenner & Block to its GIR 100 list of the world's leading cross-border investigations practices.

ABOUT JENNER & BLOCK

Jenner & Block (www.jenner.com) is a law firm with global reach, with approximately 480 lawyers and offices in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC. Now in its second century of service, the firm is known for its prominent and successful litigation practice and experience handling sophisticated and high-profile corporate transactions. Firm clients include Fortune 100 companies, large privately held corporations, financial services institutions, emerging companies and venture capital and private equity investors. In 2015, The American Lawyer magazine named Jenner & Block as the number one Pro Bono Law Firm for the sixth time in eight years.

SOURCE Jenner & Block