Acclaimed Mueller Prosecutor Andrew D. Goldstein Joins Cooley

Washington, DC – June 24, 2019 – Andrew D. Goldstein is joining Cooley as a litigation partner in the firm’s Washington, DC, and New York offices. He arrives from the Special Counsel’s Office at the US Department of Justice, where he served as senior assistant special counsel. Goldstein also is the former chief of the public corruption unit of the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

“Andrew is an exceptionally talented lawyer and a natural leader who has succeeded in every role he has taken on,” said Mike Attanasio, chair of Cooley’s global litigation department. “His former colleagues and adversaries uniformly praise his legal and trial skills, his dedication and his professionalism. We are thrilled to have him join our thriving white collar practice and global litigation team.”

The New York Times in February ran a front-page profile of Goldstein, who did not participate in the article, describing Goldstein’s leadership of the investigation into whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice. Robert Mueller III “is often portrayed as the omnipotent fact-gatherer, but it is Mr. Goldstein who has a much more involved, day-to-day role in one of the central lines of investigation,” the Times reported, adding that he “conducted every major interview of the president’s advisers.”

Prior to joining the Mueller probe, Goldstein headed the public corruption unit in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York under former US Attorney Preet Bharara. In that role, Goldstein spearheaded numerous high-profile cases, including the corruption prosecutions of former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former New York State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. Goldstein also led corruption investigations involving close aides to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, as well as high-level officials at the United Nations, New York City Police Department, NCAA and Rikers Island correctional facility. As a line attorney, Goldstein was the lead prosecutor who secured the conviction of BNP Paribas for sanctions violations, resulting in a record $8.9 billion criminal forfeiture, and successfully prosecuted the top executives of Liberty Reserve, then the world’s largest digital currency.

“I have known Cooley from my extensive dealings with its white collar partners when I was at the US Attorney’s Office,” said Goldstein. “Those experiences and what I have learned since about the firm, its global litigation practice and its culture of collaboration convinced me that Cooley provides the perfect foundation for my reentry into private practice.” 

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Goldstein worked as a staff writer at Time magazine and as a high school teacher. He earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his JD from Yale Law School. He clerked for the Honorable Sidney H. Stein in the Southern District of New York and the Honorable Chester J. Straub in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 

After the clerkships, he worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York. He joined the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York as an assistant US attorney in 2010, and he was awarded the Department of Justice’s Director’s Award for his work on the investigation and prosecutions arising out of New York’s CityTime project, the then-largest municipal fraud and kickback scheme in history. Goldstein also received the Assistant Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award in 2014 for his work on the BNP Paribas prosecution, and in 2017 he was awarded the New York City Bar’s Henry L. Stimson Medal, the highest honor given to a prosecutor in the Southern and Eastern districts of New York.

Goldstein is the newest member of Cooley’s East Coast litigation practice, which has added several prominent partners recently, including Phil Bowman, Daniel Grooms, Jonathan Kim, Heidi Lawson and Travis LeBlanc. The American Lawyer recognized the firm among the preeminent global litigation departments with an honorable mention in its biannual Litigation Department of the Year publication. Cooley was also awarded Transatlantic Litigation Team of the Year at the Transatlantic Legal Awards, which are jointly hosted by Legal Week, The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel. Other publications have also lauded the rise of Cooley’s litigation practice, including BTI Consulting Group, The Lawyer and Law360.

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Press Coverage

"Key Prosecutor in Mueller’s Obstruction Investigation Will Head to Private Practice" – The Washington Post (subscription required)

"Cooley Lands Leading Mueller Prosecutor Andrew Goldstein" – The National Law Journal (subscription required)

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