| Law School | South Bank University, London, LL.B., with upper second class honors, 1994; London School of Economics and King's College, LL.M., 1995; Georgetown University Law Center, LL.M., Securities/Financial Regulation, 1998 |
| Biography | Claudius Sokenu is a partner in the litigation practice group. He focuses his practice on domestic and international complex commercial and class action litigation in state and federal courts, securities enforcement, white collar criminal defense, corporate internal investigations and crisis management, and FINRA (formerly New York Stock Exchange and National Association of Securities Dealers) enforcement and arbitration proceedings. Mr. Sokenu has extensive experience in handling matters that require concurrent representation in the civil, criminal, and political spheres. Mr. Sokenu 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, compliance, enforcement, and class action litigation under federal and state securities laws. In addition, Mr. Sokenu has a national and internationally recognized practice representing clients in all aspects of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance, investigations, and enforcement matters before United States and foreign government civil and criminal authorities. Prior to private practice, Mr. Sokenu served in the Washington, DC office of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the Division of Enforcement, on the Honors Advance Commitment Program, first as a Staff Attorney (1998-2000) and later as Senior Counsel (2000-2001), where he was responsible for handling a broad range of the SEC'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. As a member of the enforcement staff, he handled a number of high-profile enforcement matters and initiatives, including the first-ever joint enforcement action with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) against KPMG and Baker Hughes, Inc. for FCPA violations; an FCPA enforcement action against a chief financial officer of a publicly traded oil services company; FCPA enforcement action against a former controller of an oilfield services company; and the SEC's' enforcement action against Goldman Sachs & Co. for violations of the federal securities laws in connection with the international public offerings of PetroChina Company Limited, China Telecom Hong Kong Limited, Chinadotcom Corp., and Giga Media Limited for which Goldman Sachs served as underwriter. Mr. Sokenu has lectured and published extensively on securities litigation and enforcement matters and has been quoted in national and international 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 New York City Bar Association 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. He earned his LLB with Upper Second Class Honors (Magna cum laude equivalent) from the London South Bank University in 1994, an LLM in Corporations from the London School of Economics and King's College in 1995, and an LLM in Securities and Financial Regulations from Georgetown University Law Center in 1998. |