Jan Lawrence Handzlik

Jan Handzlik is an accomplished investigations and trial lawyer with a national and international practice. He represents individuals and organizations in investigations, prosecutions, regulatory enforcement actions and complex civil litigation in the United States and abroad. He also conduct corporate internal investigations, represent clients in multinational investigations, and advise domestic and foreign clients on law compliance and risk avoidance.

An experienced trial lawyer, Jan has tried well over 100 jury trials and numerous bench trials to verdict in US Federal and State courts. He is a nationally and internationally recognized authority on financial fraud, transnational crime and regulatory offenses, including civil and criminal securities fraud, money laundering, tax and bank fraud, procurement fraud and public corruption, as well as bribery and record-keeping violations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

As a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, Jan served in the Fraud & Special Prosecutions Section, conducting federal grand jury investigations and prosecuting fraud cases at trial and on appeal to the Ninth Circuit. Subsequently, Jan was one of the first independent law compliance monitors appointed by the US Department of Justice under the FCPA. As monitor, he evaluated the operations of a Swiss multinational corporation for three years. Jan is also one of only a handful of US lawyers to have successfully defended a corporation and its CEO at trial in a major FCPA prosecution, United States v. Lindsey Manufacturing Company, et al.

Jan has been recognized for his accomplishments and expertise in numerous national and international publications. He has been honored by his peers in all 29 editions of Best Lawyers in America-US News & World Report. In addition, Handzlik & Associates has again been recognized in Best Law Firms, the peer-reviewed companion publication to Best Lawyers.

California’s leading legal periodical, The Daily Journal, named Jan one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California,” an honor given to “the state’s most influential attorneys.” He received the California Attorney of the Year Award (the “CLAY Award”) from California Lawyer Magazine for “extraordinary achievement” in criminal law. The Criminal Courts Bar Association of Los Angeles presented Jan with the Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Memorial Award, given for “exemplary commitment, exceptional skill and great achievement benefiting both his clients and the criminal justice community.” Jan was also honored with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (“NACDL”) White-Collar Criminal Defense Award.

Further recognition has been received from American Lawyer Media’s The American Lawyer Magazine; Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers; two journals published by Law Business Research Ltd. in the United Kingdom: The International Who’s Who Legal Business Crime Defence and Who’s Who Legal Investigations; Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Litigation Lawyers; Thompson-Reuters’ Super Lawyers Business Edition; and Martindale-Hubbell’s Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.

Jan is a past National Chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) National White-Collar Crime Committee. Jan also served as Co-Chair of the International Bar Association’s (IBA) International Business Crime Committee. He has held numerous other leadership positions in the IBA’s Criminal Law Section and ABA Sections on International Law, Business Law and Criminal Justice (CJS). This includes six years on the Governing Council of the Criminal Justice Section, five years on the ABA President’s Task Force on the Attorney-Client Privilege, and three years on the CJS Task Force for the revision of the ABA's Standards for the Prosecution and Defense of Criminal Cases.

In addition to bar association activities, Jan has participated extensively in pro bono public service initiatives, serving on several commissions and task forces investigating and evaluating the actions of law enforcement in Los Angeles and aspects of the California criminal justice system. He is also a frequent speaker and presenter on business crime, securities fraud, trial practice and transnational crime, at home and abroad. As Co-Chair of the IBA’s International Business Crime Committee, Jan organized and helped to present the annual Transnational Crime Conference in Istanbul, São Paulo, Miami Beach and Panama City, Panama, and staged mock trials at the Annual Conference of the IBA in Dublin and Vienna.

Handzlik & Associates represents individuals and organizations, both domestic and foreign, in white-collar criminal investigations and prosecutions, regulatory enforcement actions and complex civil litigation. The Firm conducts corporate internal investigations and represents clients in cross-border disputes. In addition to handling multinational investigations, the Firm often coordinates parallel civil, criminal and regulatory investigations and proceedings.