Terree A. Bowers
Terree is a member of the White Collar and Investigations Practice Group.

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Terree’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense, and government enforcement.
Client Work
Terree has extensive experience in criminal, civil, and municipal law and previously served as the US Attorney for the Central District of California and the Chief Deputy City Attorney for Los Angeles. He brings more than 35 years of experience in corporate investigations, crisis management, securities fraud, criminal and civil RICO cases, banking and financial institution fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the False Claims Act (FCA), civil rights actions, political corruption and campaign contribution issues, government contracting, health care fraud and regulatory matters, pharmaceutical issues, environmental criminal and regulatory matters, employment issues, customs, tax fraud, antitrust issues, insurance coverage, California Unfair Competition (Section 17200) cases and a variety of other complex litigation matters.
Health Care
While Terree has a very diverse practice, he also handles regulatory and criminal matters for hospitals, medical health entities/practices and, in certain circumstances, physicians. He specializes in urgent and emergency situations involving subpoenas, search warrants, arrests and fast-moving investigations. He also handles regular investigations by local, state and federal authorities.
Representative cases include:
- Represented a prominent hospital in a patient dumping investigation widely covered by the media. Quietly resolved the case and helped develop new guidelines for the hospital. The multi-hospital investigation lasted months and each time a new hospital was implicated, the media listed all of the other hospitals – except Terree’s client. Not only had Terree resolved the case, but he worked out an arrangement for no further press coverage regarding his client.
- Represented a nursing school being investigated by the FBI and the DOE regarding fraud in grading and graduations. Terree was brought in to represent the Board of Directors. He negotiated with the Chief of the Criminal Division, USAO, and succeeded in getting the entire investigation dismissed and all seized money returned. The resolution was just in time for the school to survive.
- Came into a case to assist another attorney involving a physician under prosecution by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office. Terree broke a stalemate and was able to resolve the case and save the physician’s career.
Previous Work
Before joining Arent Fox, Terree served as the US Attorney for the Central District of California, where he supervised the work of the Criminal, Civil, Tax, and Asset Forfeiture Sections. He supervised all civil litigation and was the final authority on settlements and civil dispositions as well as tax litigation. During his tenure, the office had a large inventory of qui tam cases and was a national leader in asset forfeitures. As a prosecutor, he established and chaired the first Telemarketing Investment Fraud Task Force in the country and created and headed the Financial Institutions Fraud Task Force for the Los Angeles area. He was also selected to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee and the Department of Justice Economic Crime Council.
Terree has received the prestigious US Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service, among numerous other awards, has taught at the US Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute, and has lectured throughout the nation. He also handled terrorism and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act cases and was the point person in the western US for the Department of Justice’s Intelligence Policy Group. He has been honored by many federal agencies, three United States Attorneys General, and one Canadian agency for his outstanding work in a variety of fields.
After serving as the US Attorney, Terree became the Chief Deputy City Attorney for Los Angeles and supervised more than 525 attorneys. He supervised the office’s advisory responsibilities to elected officials, commissions, and other city entities, and the office’s preparation of legal opinions and ordinances. While serving as Chief Deputy, the Office twice argued and prevailed before the Supreme Court of the United States.
In 1994, the Department of Justice selected Terree to serve as a US representative on the Yugoslavia War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY). He traveled to Bosnia at the height of the Yugoslav conflict to investigate allegations of genocide and helped present the international arrest warrant case against Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. He was promoted to serve as the Legal Coordinator for the Investigations Section of the ICTY and during his final week at the ICTY, gave the opening statement in one of its first genocide trials. He also served as a consultant to the Rwandan War Crimes Tribunal.
While Terree prides himself on “silent victories,” some of his representative matters include:
- Convinced the SEC to drop fraud allegations against a local city and its airport authority;
- Convinced the San Diego United States Attorney’s Office to drop insurance fraud charges against a former NFL player;
- Convinced the Los Angeles United States Attorney’s Office to close an investigation into an Orange County nursing college; Accordion Toggle
Professional Activities
Terree’s professional affiliations included:
- Chancery Club of Los Angeles, President
- American Bar Association (ABA), Member
- American Bar Foundation, Fellow Accordion Toggle
Publications, Presentations & Recognitions
Terree is regularly listed in Chambers USA in the practices of White-Collar Crime and Government Investigations. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America since 2013, Top Attorneys in Southern California, American’s Most Honored Professionals, AVVO Top Rated Lawyers, Top Rated Lawyers in Commercial Law and received the “Albert E. Arent Award” for pro bono work, among other awards. He also has authored numerous articles and was a contributor and editor for the first set of charging guidelines for the Yugoslav International War Crimes Tribunal.
Terree’s articles include:
- “Opinion: It’s Time to Bring Khashoggi’s Killers Under Magnitsky Sanctions,” The Daily Caller, October 23, 2018
- “Clients With International Interests May Need to Register Under FARA,” Daily Journal, October 22, 2018
- “America Should Support the Efforts of the ICC,” Daily Journal, September 21, 2018 Accordion Toggle
Life Beyond the Law
Terree served on the Los Angeles Executive Committee for Human Rights Watch and has participated in an ABA program training Sudanese attorneys, as well as the Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan.
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Education
University of Texas School of Law, JD, Counsel Award, Ed Guleke Scholarship, 1979University of Texas, BA, Plan II Honors Program, Alpha Phi Omega - Distinguished Service Key, The Dad's Association's Outstanding Male Student, Phi Beta Kappa, Friars, 1976