AttorneysEd Center

Lanny J. Davis, Esq., the founder of Lanny J. Davis & Associates LLC, counsels individuals, corporations and government contractors, and those under congressional scrutiny, on crisis management and legal issues by developing legal, media and legislative strategies that are designed to best produce a successful result for the client. He has experience in securities fraud and SEC investigations as well, and has found that utilizing such an integrated legal/media/lobbying approach can lead to quicker and less expensive settlements or even successfully litigated outcomes. Senior officials of public companies have also hired Mr. Davis and his crisis group to defend themselves successfully against "short and distort" attacks and other market manipulations. For 25 years prior to 1996, before his tenure as special counsel to President Clinton, he was a commercial, antitrust, government contracts and False Claims Act litigator (both in defense as well as plaintiff). He has argued numerous appellate cases in the U.S. courts of appeals.

Eileen M. O’Connor, Esq., is counsel in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, based in its Washington, D.C. office. Ms. O’Connor specializes in high profile cases for companies and individuals, helping in the handling of securities and accounting fraud cases, contract disputes, product liability, internal investigations, congressional investigations and international commercial litigation. She is a 24-year veteran journalist with experience working for ABC News and CNN in London, Moscow, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. After serving as CNN bureau chief in Moscow, she was a White House correspondent and national correspondent covering the Clinton administration. Ms. O’Connor, who left CNN at the end of 2001 to pursue a law degree and help start the Legal Crisis Communications practice at a Washington, D.C. law firm, is the editor and a frequent contributor to the Legal Crisis Strategies Blog covering topics on crisis management and prevention. She has also served as the president of the International Center for Journalists.

Stephen M. Ryan Esq., a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, and based in its Washington, D.C., office, is head of his firm’s Government Strategies Practice Group. Mr. Ryan provides lobbying, litigation and counseling services, often for the high-technology community, and companies in highly regulated industries, and he has broad experience in addressing the combined legal, political and press related challenges stemming from congressional oversight and investigation. He has been recognized by Washington D.C. Super Lawyers (among the top five percent in political law) and by the Best Lawyers in America (among the top government relations lawyers). Mr. Ryan, who previously co-taught “Legislative Investigations” as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law with Professor Sam Dash, is co-author of a book on procurement ethics and has published numerous professional articles on congressional policy-making and on the interface of criminal and government procurement law. Frequently quoted in leading newspapers and on television, he is a contributor to the Legal Crisis Strategies Blog covering topics on crisis management and prevention.

William F. Weld, Esq. is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, based in its New York office. He focuses his practice in the areas of government strategies, corporate investigations and compliance and general business advice, particularly in the financial area.

Mr. Weld joined McDermott in 1997 after serving as governor of Massachusetts, where he was elected in 1990 and re-elected in 1994. Prior to his election as governor, he was a federal prosecutor for seven years, serving as the Assistant U.S. Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts during the Reagan administration. He was also a commercial litigator in Boston for a dozen years, and earlier in his career, he served in Washington as a staff member for both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Mr. Weld is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves by appointment of the President as a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.