Christopher Lavigne is a former federal prosecutor and Partner at A&O Shearman whose practice focuses on white-collar criminal defense, regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, and high-stakes commercial litigation on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants across the United States.
Chris has achieved significant trial victories in recent years. He helped secure a USD 292.5 million jury verdict for Guardant Health in a false advertising case, earning Litigator of the Week recognition in November 2024 for the trial team. He also secured a USD 44 million jury verdict for SS&C Technologies, Inc. in a trade secret misappropriation dispute.
An experienced trial lawyer, Chris regularly advises and represents clients in bet-the-company commercial disputes, sensitive white-collar investigations and complex regulatory matters. His civil litigation experience includes trade secret misappropriation, antitrust litigation, Lanham Act disputes and a broad range of commercial litigation matters.
Chris frequently conducts internal investigations involving workplace misconduct and fraud allegations and represents corporations and individuals before the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and other regulatory authorities.
He has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation (2015–2024), New York Super Lawyers (2015–2020, 2022–2024), World IP Review (2024 for trade secret matters) and The Legal 500 (2020–2024), which described him as a "stand out" member of the litigation team.
Prior to joining private practice, Chris served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 2005 to 2013. He was a member of the Securities and Commodities Task Force and served as lead trial counsel in United States v. Doug Whitman, securing convictions on all insider trading counts after trial. He also served in the Terrorism and International Narcotics Units, handling significant prosecutions involving national security, sanctions and export control violations, terrorism matters and foreign corruption.
- Commercial
- Commercial and transactions
- Commercial disputes
- Competition/antitrust
- Dispute resolution
- Securities
- White collar crime
- Accounting
- Agriculture
- Aviation
- Automotive
- Banking
- Construction and materials
- Consumer goods and services
- Energy
- Financial services
- Fisheries and aquaculture
- Food and beverage
- Forestry
- Gaming
- Government and public policy
- Healthcare
- Industrials
- Insurance
- Investment management
- Media
- Mining
- Natural resources
- Oil and gas
- Pharmaceutical and life sciences
- Real estate
- Shipping
- Social infrastructure
- Technology and telecommunications
- Tourism
- Transport
- Utilities
- JD, Northwestern University - 2002
- New York - 2003