Chris Manning focuses his practice on high-stakes commercial litigation and arbitration matters and on complex litigation and investigations involving the False Claims Act, the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). He is Co-Chair of Williams & Connolly’s Arbitration and FCPA & Cross-Border Investigations practice groups. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Qui Tam (False Claims Act) Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section.
A versatile litigator, Chris has extensive experience as lead counsel in matters before U.S. courts and domestic and international arbitration bodies. His representations have included corporate and individual clients spanning key industries and market sectors, including securities and financial services, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, biotechnology, defense contracting, international development, accounting, media and entertainment, sports and many others. Chris also has been involved in a number of unusual high-profile matters, including representing the wrongly accused student-athletes in the “Duke lacrosse case.”
Benchmark Litigation calls Chris a “Litigation Star.” The National Law Journal named him to its short list of Washington-area lawyers who “have already made their marks in private practice, in government agencies, on Capitol Hill and with public interest groups.”Chris has also been recognized in The American Lawyer, Law360, The Washington Post Magazine, The Best Lawyers in America® (for Qui Tam Law, 2023 edition), and Super Lawyers. Peer lawyers describe Chris as “outstanding,” “an excellent trial lawyer,” “smart as a whip,” and “just the type of guy you want in your corner” (Martindale-Hubbell).
Chris speaks at legal conferences, including at the ABA’s Annual Meeting on “The False Claims Act Post-Escobar,” the ABA Criminal Justice Section’s Town Hall on “The Politically-Charged Investigation: the Washington Insider’s Guide,” and the ABA’s National Institute on Securities Fraud on “Lawyers in the Cross-Hairs: When Legal Advice Exposes Counsel to Criminal Charges and Civil Enforcement Remedies.” Chris has also spoken on arbitration-related topics to the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR).
A native Washingtonian, Chris graduated magna cum laude from Duke University, earning Phi Beta Kappa honors while also playing on Duke’s ACC champion lacrosse team. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology. He clerked for Judge Dennis Jacobs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Chris joined Williams & Connolly in 1999. He served on the firm’s Hiring Committee from 2008 to 2011 and its Associate Evaluation Committee from 2009 to 2016. Chris started Williams & Connolly’s after-school tutoring program for a local public charter school and has served on the Boards of Trustees of Landon School and Aidan Montessori School.
Updated Sep 2023
