Alexander S. Birkhold

Partner

Alexander counsels clients on global ethics and compliance strategies, cross-border investigations, and white collar prosecutions.

Alexander Birkhold Portrait

Alexander advises and supports international organizations to develop and implement effective anti-corruption compliance programs. He also conducts global investigations concerning a wide variety of matters, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), False Claims Act (FCA), anti-money laundering laws, and securities regulations. He represents clients in connection with SEC investigations and enforcement actions, and individuals and corporations under investigation by the Department of Justice. Alexander also has substantial experience advising boards of directors on corporate governance and anti-corruption matters.

Alexander is a proud member of OutFox, ArentFox Schiff’s LGBTQ+ affinity group.

Client Work

Government and Internal Investigations

Alexander represents companies in some of their most critical investigations. This includes matters involving the FCPA, FARA, FCA, AML laws, and securities regulations. Alexander has a successfully resolved matters before they advance to enforcement actions. He has significant experience on cross-border investigations and has worked with clients in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Israel, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, South Africa, and across Europe and North America.

Global Investigations Review (GIR) named Alexander to its 2024 “40 Under 40” list. GIR’s directory, which was last updated in 2020, identifies the world’s leading investigations specialists and “shines a spotlight on people from around the world who have gone above and beyond in their work, including those who don’t always receive the same level of recognition as their more established peers, but are equally deserving of it.”

Business Compliance & Integrity Monitorships

Alexander advises and supports international organizations to develop and implement effective anti-corruption compliance programs. He is experienced in testing and demonstrating the efficacy of compliance capabilities and enhancements.

Alexander was a lead partner on the first DOJ and SEC anti-corruption compliance monitorship of a Russian company and its subsidiaries. He spent four years working closely with the company’s management and personnel to design and implement compliance controls, policies, and procedures. Due to this work, the US government dismissed its Information against the company after successful certification of the company’s compliance program.

He also previously served on the team of a government-appointed independent consultant for one of the world’s largest financial institutions, where he reviewed the institution’s existing AML policies and recommended improvements to the corporate governance and compliance programs across Europe, Asia, and North America.

Alexander is passionate about compliance and helps companies design policies, procedures, and trainings related to compliance with the FCPA, FARA, and other anti-corruption laws.

Litigation

Alexander has significant experience as a litigator in federal court. He has second-chair trial experience and has successfully resolved litigations concerning the FCA, SEC Rule 10b-5, insider trading claims, conspiracy, and other criminal statutes.

Professional Activities

  • Chair and Independent Member, USA Gymnastics Ethics & Grievance Committee

Clerkship

Before joining ArentFox Schiff, Alexander served as a law clerk to the Honorable Percy Anderson of the US District Court, Central District of California. 

Previous Work

Alex previously worked as an Associate at an international law firm in its New York office. During law school, Alexander spent a semester working at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. 

Publications, Presentations & Recognitions

Publications & Presentations

  • “Recent Updates to the DOJ’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs,” Practitioner Insights Commentaries, Thomson Reuters, Co-author with Peter Unger and Elizabeth Satarov, December 6, 2024.
  • Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing, contributing writer with Karen Van Essen, et al., The Year in Review: An Annual Publication of the ABA/Section of International Law, Vol. No. 52 (2018)
  • Predicate Offenses, Foreign Convictions, and Trusting Tribal Courts, Mich. L. Rev. First Impressions (2016).
  • Rejecting the Ninth Circuit’s Distrust of Tribal Courts, Native Times, February 26, 2016.
  • The Problematic Extraterritorial Reach of U.S Regulators and Nonconventional Securities, 40 Yale J. Int’l L. Online 1 (2015).
  • Poking Holes in L.A.’s New Condom Requirement: Pornography, Barebacking, and Speech, 90 Wash. U. L. Rev. 1819 (2013).
  • America’s Next Top Model … Guidelines, Law á la Mode (2012).

Recognitions

Insights

Awards

JD Supra Readers Choice Top Author 2021