Arian M. June is a litigation partner based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and is a member of the White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group. Recognized as one of 25 Influential Black Women in Business by The Network Journal (2020) and by Benchmark Litigation and Chambers USA for her expertise in white collar criminal defense, Ms. June’s practice focuses on government and internal investigations, securities enforcement defense, whistleblower response, sensitive investigations and crisis management. She has represented financial institutions, publicly traded companies, investment advisers and senior executives in complex regulatory matters, including allegations of securities fraud, insider trading, accounting and corporate disclosure issues, violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, cyber-intrusions and sales practices violations, including matters involving foreign exchange products and the distribution of life insurance products.

Ms. June advises clients on various facets of the Dodd-Frank Act, with particular emphasis in designing corporate policies and procedures to comply with the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower regulations, investigating corporate whistleblower reports and mitigating whistleblower-related risks. In addition to her white collar practice, Ms. June also advises boards of corporations, educational institutions and other organizations in sensitive investigations, including board-directed independent inquiries of allegations involving sexual misconduct, racial intolerance and related matters. According to Chambers USA (2024), Ms. June is “an all-around fantastic lawyer” who is “thoughtful, strategic and very good at client service.” She has also received praise for being “very strategic in her thinking” and “sharp” with an ability to “get down in the weeds while seeing around corners.” Ms. June was named to Securities Docket’s 2024 Enforcement Elite, a list of “the best securities enforcement defense lawyers in the business.”

Ms. June speaks and writes frequently on topics of importance to her practice area. She has authored or co-authored articles for publications such as Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report, Bloomberg BNA World Securities Law Report, Law360, Journal of Investment Compliance and The Hill. Ms. June is co-editor-in-chief of the firm’s Accounting & Financial Reporting Enforcement Round-Up.

Ms. June has served in a variety of professional leadership roles, including as a Fellow to the American Bar Foundation, a Board Member of the District of Columbia Bar Board of Governors, a member of the Board of Trustees for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and Vice Chair for the Federal Regulation of Securities Committee of the American Bar Association Business Law Section. She was also recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the National Health Law Program.

Ms. June joined Debevoise in 2017. She was previously a counsel at an international Washington, D.C.-based firm. She received her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she served as a senior editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. She earned a B.A. cum laude at the University of Maryland. Ms. June served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Recent speaking engagements include:

• “Ethical Traps for the Unwary In-House Counsel,” 2023 SIFMA C&L Annual Seminar, March 12-15, 2023, San Diego, CA.
• “Privilege Considerations for Asset Managers,” 6th Annual SEC Alumni, June 23, 2021.
• “Managing Risk in SEC Enforcement Investigations,” Securities Regulation Institute, January 27, 2021.
• “Ethics for Commercial Litigators,” PLI, Ethics for Commercial Litigators, February 18, 2021 and February 20, 2020, New York, NY.
• “Ethics: Lessons Learned from a Silicon Valley Startup,” Securities Regulation Institute, January 29, 2020, Coronado, CA.
• “Trends in Enforcement and Internal Investigations,” Ethics & Compliance Initiative Fellows Conference, January 8, 2020, Washington, D.C.
• “Practical Tips for Managing Systemic Risk and Surviving Corporate Crises in the Digital Age?,” HNBA, 9th Annual Corporate Counsel Conference, March 15-18, 2018, San Francisco, CA.
• “Panel: Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers,” DC Bar, ON DEMAND: Supreme Court Update - Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers, February 27, 2018, Washington, D.C.
• “AML/Financial Crimes Enforcement Trends,” SIFMA, SIFMA Anti-Money Laundering & Financial Crimes Conference, February 13, 2018, New York, NY.
• “Internal and Regulatory Investigations of Whistleblower Reports: Ethical Considerations,” PLI, Corporate Whistleblowing in 2017, June 28, 2017, New York, NY.
• “Handling Whistleblower Claims 2017: Rights of Private Sector Employees,” DC Bar, May 16, 2017, Washington, D.C.
• “Managing and Mitigating Whistleblower Risks,” MCCA General Counsel Summit, April 20, 2017, Aventura, FL.
• “Advising Clients throughout the Whistleblower Investigation,” American Bar Association, Section of Labor and Employment Law, November 11, 2016, Chicago, IL.
• “The SEC’s Whistleblower Program: Significant Developments SEC-Regulated Companies Should Know Webinar,” The Knowledge Group, July 11, 2016.
• “Performing Issue Spotting and Client Intake in Whistleblower Cases,” American Bar Association, Section of Labor and Employment Law, November 5, 2015, Philadelphia, PA.
• “Governance Regulations Under Dodd-Frank Webinar,” American Bar Association, Business Law Section, January 15, 2015.
• Frequent client CLE presentations and senior management training workshops on mitigating corporate whistleblower risks.

Recent publications include:

• “Settled Actions Reiterate SEC’s Broad Interpretation of Rule 21F-17(a) Whistleblower Impediments,” Harvard Forum on Corporate Governance (October, 2024);
• “Cooperating with US government investigations: the risks and rewards,” Global Investigations Review (August, 2024);
• “Supreme Court Punches SEC APs Right in the Seventh Amendment,” NYU Compliance & Enforcement Blog (July, 2024);
• “Preparing for AI Whistleblowers,” NYU Compliance & Enforcement Blog (May, 2024);
• “AI Enforcement Starts with Washing: The SEC Charges its First AI Fraud Cases,” NYU Compliance & Enforcement Blog (April, 2024);
• “Debevoise Discusses SEC Whistleblower Action Over Retail Client Agreements,” CLS Blue Sky Blog (February, 2024);
• “Seven Steps to Mitigate Hazing Risks,” NYU Compliance & Enforcement Blog (October, 2023);
• “Key considerations in US government investigations,” Global Investigations Review (August, 2023);
• “The Supreme Court’s Upcoming Affirmative Action Decision: Potential Implications for Private-Sector Employers,” NYU Compliance & Enforcement Blog (June, 2023);
• “Key Considerations in US Government Investigations,” GIR Americas Investigations Review (September, 2022);
• “Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses SEC Enforcement Action Highlighting Whistleblower-Related Rules,” CLS Blue Sky Blog (April, 2022);
• “Government Investigations: Key Considerations in US Government Investigations,” Global Investigations Review: The Americas Investigations Review 2022 (October, 2021);
• “Likely Policy Priorities of the Gensler SEC,” NYU Compliance & Enforcement Blog (April, 2021);
• “Despite Unprecedented Challenges, SEC’s Division of Enforcement’s 2020 Annual Report Presents Healthy Enforcement Results,” Compliance & Enforcement Blog (November, 2020);
• “5 Ways To Mitigate Whistleblower Risk During COVID-19,” Law360 (July, 2020);
• “Debevoise Discusses SEC’s Record Year for Whistleblowers,” Columbia Law School’s Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets (December, 2018);
• “SEC Leadership Discusses Continuing Priorities,” New York University School of Law Compliance & Enforcement Blog (September, 2017);
• “How Companies Can Protect Themselves from Attorney Whistleblowers: Lessons from Bio-Rad,” Chapter 17, Corporate Whistleblowing in 2017, Course Handbook, Practising Law Institute (June, 2017);
• “Whistleblowers to remain prominent fixtures in securities regulation,” The Hill (December, 2016);
• “Four Key Sec Whistleblower Trends—And How Companies Can Prepare for Them,” The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation (September, 2016);
• “SEC Settlements Put Severance Agreements Under Increased Scrutiny,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report (September, 2016);
• “Four Things Companies Should Know About the SEC's 2015 Whistleblower Report,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report (December, 2015);
• “Understanding the Global Reach of U.S. Whistleblower Anti-Retaliation Protections,” Bloomberg BNA World Securities Law Report, Vol. 20, No. 7. (July, 2014);
• “Attorneys Caught in the Ethical Crosshairs: Secretkeepers as Bounty Hunters Under the SEC Whistleblower Rules,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report, Vol. 46, No. 711 (April, 2014);
• “Don't Tread on Whistleblowers: Mitigating and Managing Retaliation Risks—Part II,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report, Vol. 46, No. 167 (January, 2014);
• “Don't Tread on Whistleblowers: Mitigating and Managing Retaliation Risks,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report, Vol. 46, No. 77 (January, 2014);
• “Trends in Insider Trading Investigations Part II: How to Navigate Expert Networks,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report, Vol. 45, No. 2255 (December, 2013);
• “Trends in Insider Trading Investigations Part I: How to Navigate Political Intelligence,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report, Vol. 45, No. 2041 (November, 2013);
• “Expected Renewed SEC Emphasis on Accounting Fraud,” Law360 (October, 2013);
• “Dispatches From the Whistleblower Front: Five Common Pitfalls For Companies to Avoid,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report, Vol. 45, No. 1345 (July, 2013);
• “Year Three of the SEC Whistleblower Program: Will It Turbocharge SEC Enforcement?,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report, Vol. 45, No. 890 (May, 2013);
• “Preparing for the Deluge: How to Respond When Employees Speak Up and Report Possible Compliance Violations,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report, Vol. 44, No. 922 (May, 2012);
• “Get Ahead of the Bus or Be Hit by the Bus: Practical Strategies for Meeting the Challenges and Mitigating the Risks of the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program,” Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report, Vol. 44, No. 526 (March, 2012);
• “CFTC and SEC Whistleblower Bounties: Largely Similar But Important Differences Remain,” Journal of Investment Compliance, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2012); and
• “SEC Whistleblower Bounties: 10 Things Companies Can Do Right Now To Stay Ahead,” Market Solutions, Vol. 20, No. 3 (September, 2011).‎