Claudius O. Sokenu

LL.B., London South Bank University; LL.M., University of London’s London School of Economics and King’s College London; LL.M. in Securities and Financial Regulations, Georgetown University Law Center. Professor Sokenu is a partner in the Securities Enforcement and Litigation, White Collar Defense, and Congressional Investigations practice groups at Arnold & Porter LLP. He focuses his practice on securities litigation, securities enforcement, white collar criminal defense, corporate and congressional investigations, related derivative actions, domestic and international complex litigation in state and federal courts, FINRA enforcement proceedings, and crisis management. He also has substantial experience representing hedge funds, private equity firms, broker-dealers, investment banks, accounting firms, auditors, and public and private companies in all aspects of securities regulation, enforcement, and compliance. Prior to private practice, he served in the Washington, DC office of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Division of Enforcement, on the Honors Program, first as a Staff Attorney and later as Senior Counsel, where he was responsible for handling a broad range of the Commission’s domestic and international enforcement matters, including investigations involving accounting fraud, insider trading, initial public offerings, illicit payments under the FCPA, investment companies and investment advisers, market manipulation, and broker-dealer misconduct. He was also a member of the Division’s FCPA Working Group, which is today known as the FCPA Unit, one of the five specialized units created by the Division in 2009. As a member of the Enforcement Division, he handled a number of high-profile enforcement matters and initiatives, including the first-ever joint enforcement action with the Department of Justice against KPMG and Baker Hughes, Inc. for FCPA violations. Mr. Sokenu has lectured and published extensively on securities litigation and enforcement matters and has been quoted in the financial press on a variety of securities law issues. In February 2007, Mr. Sokenu was named to Securities Law360’s “10 Under 40,” a list of 10 lawyers under the age of 40 who have demonstrated an outstanding breadth of knowledge and experience in the securities enforcement and litigation field. In 2005, the City Bar Association of New York appointed Mr. Sokenu to serve on the Task Force on the Role of Attorneys in Corporate Governance. In 2003, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association honored Mr. Sokenu as an outstanding outside corporate counsel. In 2001, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York honored Mr. Sokenu for outstanding pro bono work in connection with a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States.