B.A., Brandeis; J.D., Georgetown
David Last is a partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in the White Collar and Investigations practice group. Professor Last’s practice focuses on government and internal investigations, including defending companies and individuals in a wide range of high-stakes domestic and international enforcement actions with a particular focus on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) matters. Prior to joining Cleary, Professor Last served as the Chief of the FCPA Unit at the Department of Justice, where he led a specialized group of prosecutors in the DOJ’s Fraud Section, whose job is to identify, investigate, and prosecute violations of the FCPA and other corruption-related offenses. As Chief of the Unit, he oversaw all FCPA-related investigations, prosecutions, corporate resolutions, trials, and corporate compliance monitorships in the United States. Under his leadership, the FCPA Unit investigated over 200 matters involving the FCPA, money laundering, wire fraud, and other corruption-related offenses. Professor Last also represented the DOJ at international meetings and collaborated extensively with various U.S. and international law enforcement authorities, including those in Brazil, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, among many others. Prior to his role as Chief of the FCPA Unit, Professor Last served as the Principal Assistant Chief and prior to that as an Assistant Chief and a Trial Attorney. As a prosecutor and supervisor in the FCPA Unit, Professor Last led and oversaw many of the DOJ’s most high-profile and significant matters, including one of the largest coordinated FCPA resolutions in history. In addition to his leadership roles at DOJ, Professor Last is also a seasoned trial lawyer, having tried and supervised numerous cases during his 17 years as a federal prosecutor. For over a decade, Professor Last served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., where he investigated and prosecuted a wide variety of white-collar criminal cases, including financial fraud, public corruption, wire fraud, money laundering, bank fraud, and Travel Act violations, among many other criminal cases. Prior to joining the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Professor Last spent five years at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP in Washington, D.C. Professor Last graduated from Brandeis University and the Georgetown University Law Center.