Douglas S. Zolkind is a litigation partner and a member of the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group. A former federal prosecutor with extensive trial experience, he defends corporate and individual clients in criminal and regulatory enforcement matters around the world.

Mr. Zolkind handles significant government investigations, enforcement matters, and internal investigations for companies, boards, private equity and venture capital firms, hedge funds, and individual executives.  He has an international practice, often advising on cross-border investigations involving authorities in multiple jurisdictions, and has particular expertise in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), including handling two FCPA trials.

Prior to joining Debevoise, Mr. Zolkind served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). At SDNY, Mr. Zolkind led investigations, prosecutions, and trials in cases involving the FCPA, wire fraud, money laundering, business and political corruption, bank fraud, securities offenses, and cybercrime. He handled many high-profile matters, including:

• An FCPA trial against a Macau-based real estate mogul involving corruption at the highest levels of the United Nations;
• An FCPA trial against a former cabinet-level Hong Kong official involving efforts by a Chinese energy company to bribe top officials in Chad and Uganda;
• The prosecution of a bank Chairman & CEO for engaging in a bribery scheme with a top adviser to the then-President of the United States; 
• A trial against one of the most senior elected officials in New York State for bribery, extortion, and fraud; and
• The prosecution of Ukrainian businessmen for advancing the interests of an international energy trading business through wire fraud and campaign finance violations.

Mr. Zolkind serves on the Board of Directors of the Office of the Appellate Defender. He is also a member of the Federal Criminal Practice Committee of the Federal Bar Council, and a member of the White Collar & Securities Enforcement Executive Committee of the UJA-Federation.

Mr. Zolkind speaks and writes regularly on white collar issues, including serving as a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the firm’s monthly FCPA Update newsletter, and co-authoring the chapter “Key Considerations in US Government Investments” in GIR Americas Investigations Review.

He clerked for the Hon. Janice Rogers Brown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (2009-2010), and for the Hon. P. Kevin Castel on the U.S. District Court for the SDNY (2008-2009). From 2010-2014, Mr. Zolkind was a litigation associate at another international law firm.

Mr. Zolkind received his J.D. summa cum laude from Cornell Law School in 2008, where he was an articles editor of the Cornell Law Review. He obtained his B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005.