Victor J. Rocco

| vcard

Victor J. Rocco is a nationally recognized white collar litigator. He has extensive trial and appellate experience in federal and state courts and regularly represents both U.S. and foreign-based corporations in connection with internal corporate investigations, criminal, civil and regulatory matters, arbitrations and in complex commercial disputes. Mr. Rocco most recently was a shareholder in the New York office of Heller Ehrman, LLP, where he was Chairman of the Litigation Department. Prior to his affiliation with Heller Ehrman, Mr. Rocco was Chair of the Litigation Department of Gordon Altman Butowsky Weitzen Shalov & Wein. He founded the White Collar Defense Practice at the New York firm of Botein Hays & Sklar in 1983.

Through the years, Mr. Rocco has represented a broad spectrum of clients in a variety of complex commercial, regulatory and criminal matters. Those clients have included: public and private companies, corporate officers, directors, boards of directors, audit committees, special committees, issuers of securities, investment advisors, investment companies, mutual funds, broker-dealers, accounting firms, law firms, commercial banks, mortgage banks and servicing companies, art dealers and collectors, public officials, political figures, defense contractors, real estate developers, unions, pension funds, trade associations, sportspeople and business entrepreneurs. He has represented clients who have been sued for, investigated for, or charged with, violations of the federal RICO statute, the Sherman and Clayton Acts, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Taft-Hartley Act, the Hobbs Act, the Lacey Act, money laundering statutes, securities statutes and regulations, mail and wire fraud statutes, bank fraud statutes, tax fraud statutes, bankruptcy fraud statutes, smuggling statutes, and export control statutes and regulations. Mr. Rocco routinely defends individuals and corporations in private securities cases, enforcement and regulatory actions, derivative lawsuits, civil antitrust matters and RICO actions. He also has extensive experience in cross-border investigations and prosecutions, extradition matters, bankruptcy litigation, insurance coverage disputes and in complex commercial litigation involving licensing business torts and breach of contract claims.

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Rocco was Chief of the Criminal Division for the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and prior to that was Chief of the Office's Narcotics section. Mr. Rocco was law clerk to the Honorable John F. Scileppi, Associate Judge, New York Court of Appeals.

Mr. Rocco is the former President of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers and an officer and member of its Board of Directors. He has been a member of the association of the Bar of the City of New York's Criminal Law Committee, Criminal Advocacy Committee and Professional Responsibility Committee, as well as a special Ad Hoc Committee on Pretrial Publicity that was appointed by the Association's Executive Committee to study the impact of pretrial publicity on the right to a speedy and fair trial in criminal cases. He is a former member of the Sub-Committee of The Local Rules of Civil Litigation Committee for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Mr. Rocco

Mr. Rocco routinely appears in "New York Super Lawyers" as one of the outstanding white collar criminal defense lawyers in New York.

Mr. Rocco has lectured widely on RICO, complex litigation tactics, legal ethics, and trial strategies and techniques at symposia, before professional organizations and at law schools. He has taught trial advocacy at the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute, The National Institute for Trial Advocacy, The Practising Law Institute and before a number of professional groups.

Education:

St. John's University (B.A. cum laude, 1967; J.D., 1970); Notes & Comments Editor, St. John's Law Review

Clerkships:

Law Clerk, Hon. John F. Scileppi, Associate Judge, New York Court of Appeals (1970-1972)

Admissions & Courts:

New York
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States District Court for the Northern District of New York
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Supreme Court of the United States

Memberships:

American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section
New York State Bar Association, Commercial Litigation Section
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Committee on Professional Responsibility (2000-2003), Committee on Criminal Advocacy (1986-1989), Committee on Criminal Law (1983-1986), Ad Hoc Committee on Pretrial Publicity (1986)
New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Federal Bar Council
New York Council of Defense Lawyers, Director (1989-1992), Secretary-Treasurer (1996-1998) Vice President (1998-2000), President (2001-2003)
The Legal Aid Society, Board of Advisors (2006-2007)
The Legal Aid Society, Board of Directors

Publications:

• "Wildlife Conservation Under the Lacey Act: International Cooperation or Legal Imperialism?" NYSBA Journal, Vol. 80, No. 4 05-2008.
• "Executives Do Not Need Waivers and Companies Should Not Offer Them: A Response to Mark Kressel," 116 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 262. 2007
• "Defending Federal Criminal Cases, Attacking the Government's Proof," Law Journal Press 01.01.2006
• "RICO: Civil and Criminal Law and Strategy," Law Journal Seminars Press, Rakoff & Goldstein, eds. 1989

Back to Top