Robert "Rob" Fisher, Criminal Defense Attorney in Boston, Massachusetts

Rob Fisher is a Chambers USA ranked trial lawyer and former Assistant United States Attorney who represents clients facing bet-the-company internal and government investigations or charges brought by agencies such as the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the various state attorneys general. He serves as practice group leader for the firm’s Government Investigations & White Collar Defense practice, which is a Chambers Band One practice and was recently honored as a New England Litigation Department of the Year for the second year in a row.

My focus

Rob served as an Assistant United States Attorney for almost a decade and during that time handled some of the federal district’s most complex and high-profile white-collar fraud cases. He has received numerous awards for his work as a defense attorney and a federal prosecutor including the US Department of Justice Director’s Award and was named a Massachusetts Lawyer of the Year (2022).

Rob has successfully defended corporate and individual clients facing almost all variations of federal white-collar offenses. Based upon his work as a defense attorney and prosecutor, Rob has been interviewed by Anderson Cooper for CBS’s 60 Minutes, has been featured in two Netflix documentaries, a CNN documentary, and a History Channel documentary, and is frequently quoted in numerous national publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, and the Boston Globe. His cases have been featured in Wall Street Journal reporter Melissa Korn’s book Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & The Making of The College Admissions Scandal (2020), John Vandemoer’s book Rigged Justice (2021); and WBUR’s Last Seen podcast (2018).

In fall 2022, Rob was recognized by Boston University School of Law, in honor of its 150th anniversary, as one of the 150 people, places, and events that have made an impact on the law school and the world. Rob has previously been retained as an expert witness in matters regarding the management and defense of government and regulatory investigations and was also nominated by former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to serve as a member of the Commonwealth’s Task Force on the Preservation of Evidence.

I utilize my experience as a former federal prosecutor and assistant attorney general to represent companies, boards of directors, and individuals in internal investigations or enforcement actions by any of the various state and federal agencies or United States Attorneys’ Offices. I’ve served as lead trial counsel in dozens of state and federal trials and successfully handled appeals before the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. I have also represented FINRA in lengthy hearings before that regulator’s Office of Hearing Officers.

Government and Internal Investigations

I am a former Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General and spent nearly a decade as a federal prosecutor for the United States Attorney’s Office in Boston with much of this time as a member of the Public Corruption and Special Investigations Unit. In this role, I led dozens of grand jury investigations and handled the prosecution of a broad range of sophisticated, high-profile, white-collar federal cases involving federal program bribery, healthcare fraud, international trade violations, embezzlement, identity theft, extortion, obstruction of justice, money laundering, RICO conspiracies, and mail and wire fraud. I have conducted trainings for the FBI and other federal and foreign law enforcement agencies and traveled with the FBI to Europe while conducting training regarding bribery and corruption for European law enforcement officials.

My experience as a former prosecutor provides me a unique perspective when assisting my clients with government investigations and regulatory matters, including subpoenas by federal or state agencies, internal corporate investigations, criminal and civil enforcement proceedings, and defense of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) cases.

Financial Services

I also help clients resolve complex securities and compliance matters, including securities fraud, stock manipulation, insider trading, conversion of investor funds, mail and wire fraud, tax fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.

Prior to joining the firm, I served as a senior litigation counsel for FINRA. I investigated and prosecuted some of the regulatory authority’s most significant cases involving violations of federal securities laws and ethical rules. I also represented FINRA in disciplinary hearings and settlement negotiations regarding a wide range of federal securities fraud offenses. I leverage my background and understanding of the financial regulatory landscape to help my clients navigate federal security laws and industry rules and regulations.

Looking ahead

The federal government, state governments, and various regulators will continue to be aggressive in the areas of financial fraud, healthcare fraud, money laundering, corporate or white-collar misconduct, and public and private corruption, including the investigation of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. In the current highly regulated environment, businesses and individuals should be cognizant of their compliance and due diligence responsibilities and, if and when there are investigations or violations, it is important that they receive strategic advice and counsel from lawyers that know firsthand how these agencies and regulators investigate and prosecute cases.