As co-chair of Zuckerman Spaeder's Professional Services Practice Group, Deborah J. Jeffrey helps law firms and lawyers negotiate their way through an environment of increasing complexity and regulation. She counsels firms on legal ethics, disciplinary proceedings, bar admissions, unauthorized practice of law, lawyer mobility, law firm structure and governance, and lawyers' responsibilities under the SEC's Sarbanes-Oxley rules. She also advises law firm managing partners and administrators on compliance programs relating to legal recruiting and hiring, Web sites and electronic communications, and conflicts of interest. Ms. Jeffrey represents lawyers and law firms in malpractice litigation and in civil and criminal enforcement proceedings.

Complex civil and criminal litigation is Ms. Jeffrey's second specialty. She represents corporations and individual directors and officers before the SEC and the Department of Justice and defends complex private securities fraud litigation and class and derivative litigation. She has counseled companies and executives on corporate governance and has also prosecuted and defended sophisticated business litigation on behalf of public and private companies. Ms. Jeffrey's recent representations include:

• Defending a former Enron executive in the multiple civil proceedings and investigations resulting from the collapse of that company.
• Obtaining Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protection for an officer of a publicly-traded corporation, who had reported to superiors a pattern of apparent self-dealing by senior management and inside directors.
• Conducting a series of internal investigations for a major international development organization.
• Representing high-level government executives in congressional and enforcement proceedings, including before the 9-11 Commission.
• Defending a senior government officer in a national security/intelligence criminal investigation.

Ms. Jeffrey serves on a Hearing Committee for the District of Columbia's Board on Professional Responsibility and has taught legal ethics for the continuing education program of the DC Bar. She has also guest lectured for The Johns Hopkins University government program and serves as a member of the Advisory Councils of the University's Washington Center and its School of Arts and Sciences.

Ms. Jeffrey served as a law clerk to the Honorable Harrison L. Winter, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Fourth Circuit in 1985-1986. She received her B.A., with honors, from the Johns Hopkins University in 1982 and her law degree, cum laude, from the Harvard Law School in 1985. While in law school, Ms. Jeffrey was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights—Civil Liberties Law Review and as Deputy Director of the Massachusetts State Legislative Commission on Violence Against Children.

OFFICES
Washington, DC
INDUSTRIES
Law Firms and Lawyers
National Security and Intelligence
Sarbanes-Oxley Resources
Securities
ADMISSIONS
District of Columbia
Maryland
PRACTICES
Complex Civil Litigation
Government Relations
Professional Responsibility and Ethics
Securities Litigation
White Collar Criminal Litigation