Michael Pauzé defends clients in high-stakes government investigations, enforcement proceedings and parallel civil litigation. A former federal prosecutor, Michael regularly represents accounting and financial services firms, life sciences companies, and their boards and professionals in sensitive investigations and hotly disputed trials. Michael recently was selected by a national legal periodical as MVP of the Year for white-collar criminal defense, recognizing him as among an “elite slate of attorneys” with “hard-earned success in high-stakes litigation.”
Michael’s practice focuses on regulatory and financial investigations by U.S. law enforcement agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service; U.S. regulatory agencies, including the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Food & Drug Administration, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; as well as congressional subcommittees.
Michael has considerable experience representing accounting firms in regulatory and congressional investigations, as well as securities litigation. He has represented firms on three continents in U.S. and cross-border regulatory investigations, quietly resolving more than two dozen SEC, PCAOB and CFTC investigations with no enforcement action. Michael also represents life science companies in investigations of antikickback, off-label promotion and false claims matters. He recently served as lead trial counsel for Vascular Solutions, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company, in a groundbreaking federal criminal trial involving off-label promotion charges. After a five-year investigation and a three-week trial, the Texas jury acquitted the company and its CEO of all charges.
Education/Alumni:
- B.S., Indiana University, high distinction
- J.D., Vanderbilt University, Order of the Coif
Updated Sep 2023
