Julie Withers

In her criminal practice, Julie focuses on defending clients being investigated for or charged with financial crimes. She has represented clients in investigations and trials involving essentially all major governmental and self-regulatory investigatory agencies, including, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the Criminal Section of the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division, the SEC, FINRA, and the CFA Board, on allegations such as fraud, violations of the securities laws, insider-trading, antitrust, and OFAC violations. 

Julie also represents individuals and companies in complex, high-stakes, business disputes and employment matters. She has secured multimillion-dollar settlements, recovered substantial financial losses, and obtained jury verdicts on behalf of a wide variety of entrepreneur, investor, and corporate clients.

Julie also has a remarkable record of pro bono work that reflects a deep commitment to justice beyond her commercial practice. For example, she represented ten individuals imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay and led the clemency appeal of Stanley Tookie Williams.

Julie began her career clerking for Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy in the Southern District of New York, before joining the white-collar defense group at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP under renowned criminal defense attorney Peter Fleming, Jr. She later practiced at Allen & Overy LLP, where she focused on defending financial institutions and individuals in white-collar criminal and regulatory investigations, before joining Harris St. Laurent.

Notable Matters

• Was a key member of a winning trial team that secured a complete defense verdict in a high-profile criminal antitrust price-fixing trial brought by the Department of Justice following three lengthy jury trials. The DOJ charged ten executives from the poultry industry with criminal violations of the Sherman Act, alleging a price-fixing scheme in the $28 billion-per-year broiler chicken market. As one of three lead trial attorneys representing a former Vice President of Pilgrim’s Pride, Julie obtained two mistrials and ultimately a full acquittal. The trial win earned the defense teams The AmLaw Litigation Daily’s “Litigator of the Week” first runners-up recognition, and the case garnered extensive national attention from major news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Reuters, Politico, and CNBC, among others.
• Negotiated a $13 million settlement for an entrepreneur in a failed acquisition.
• Negotiated the return of all lost monies for an investor in a dispute with a bank.
• Member of the HS trial team that obtained complete exoneration for a prominent financial advisor charged with fraud by the SEC.
• Successfully resolved a "Black Friday" internet gambling action brought by the DOJ against a world-renowned poker player.
• Member of the HS team that won a federal jury verdict of over $20 million in a business dispute.