Leif Simonson is a member of the firm's litigation and advocacy group. Leif's practice focuses on complex civil litigation involving securities and financial services as well as white collar criminal and regulatory enforcement defense.  Prior to joining Faegre Baker Daniels, Leif practiced for several years in New York at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Kobre & Kim LLP.

Securities and Financial Services Related Civil Litigation

Representative examples of Leif's securities and financial services-related civil practice includes:

• Representation of several large corporate clients in securities fraud claims against Citigroup, UBS and Lehman Brothers relating to auction rate securities, including a recent victory for Intevac, Inc., in which a FINRA panel ordered Citigroup to repurchase more than $55 million student loan auction rate securities at par (Intevac v. Citigroup, FINRA No. 09-01477);
• Representation of a Fortune 500 issuer in multiple securities fraud class actions alleging several billions of dollars in damages;
• Representation of a number of brokerage firms in several FINRA arbitrations in claims involving equity securities, fixed income securities, options contracts and variable annuities;
• Representation of public companies and their officers and directors against shareholder suits arising out of mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buy-outs, and going private transactions in Delaware Chancery Court, Minnesota state court, and the federal courts;
• Representation of a hedge fund in several adversary proceedings relating to the numerous bankruptcies stemming from the arrest and conviction of Tom Petters for a $3 billion Ponzi scheme;
• Representation of a hedge fund in fraud claims against Lehman Brothers in the LBI SIPA proceeding and LBHI bankruptcy;
• Representation of a large foreign investment bank in a dispute against a Wall Street investment bank arising from the collapse of a $2 billion credit facility.

White Collar Criminal and Regulatory Enforcement Defense

Leif has substantial experience in white collar criminal and regulatory enforcement defense, including at jury trial and in contested hearings:

• While in New York, Leif represented one of the former KPMG partner in the well-publicized criminal prosecution relating to certain tax shelters. Leif was an integral part of the defense team that successfully challenged the government's implementation of the Thompson Memorandum. Leif's work contributed to the suppression of his client's proffer statements as a result of government coercion relating to the Thompson Memorandum (see United States v. Stein, et al., 440 F.Supp.2d 315 (S.D.N.Y. 2006)), and ultimately to the dismissal of the indictment against his client (see United States v. Stein, et al., 495 F.Supp.2d 390 (2007), aff'd, 541 F.3d 130 (2d Cir. 2008)).
• Leif was also part of the trial team representing international lobbyist Tongsun Park in the nation's first criminal prosecution relating to the United Nation's Oil-for-Food scandal.
• Leif also represented Brian Hunter, the head natural gas futures trader at Amaranth Advisors (a $9 billion hedge fund that collapsed in September 2006), in simultaneous enforcement proceedings brought by the CFTC and the FERC.

Related experience includes:

• Representation of a lead audit partner from a Big Four accounting firm in an SEC enforcement action;
• Representation of major investment banks and several employees in a SEC and FINRA investigations relating to insider trading;
• Representation of a wide variety of defendants, targets, subjects and witnesses in a number of prosecutions and investigations conducted by federal and state agencies.

At Harvard Law School, Leif was on Law Review and was an oralist and semifinalist in the Ames Moot Court Competition.

Professional Associations

• Federal Bar Association – Minnesota Chapter, board member
• Minnesota State Bar Association
• American Bar Association