Lance Wade is Co-Chair of Williams & Connolly’s Criminal Defense and Government Investigations practice group. His practice focuses on high-stakes criminal trials, government investigations, and civil litigation. He has guided major corporations, senior corporate executives, and public officials through intense and highly sensitive matters, in and out of the courtroom. Chambers USA has described him as “terrific, tenacious and fearless, doing an outstanding job in high-profile and controversial matters . . . able to withstand scrutiny under pressure while remaining down to earth…a great trial lawyer... exceptionally smart and talented.”
He has been recognized for excellence in the practice of law by a wide variety of publications. Those recognitions include:
· Washingtonian MagazineChambers USA,
· BTI, Benchmark Litigation,
· Euromoney's Expert Guide, Super Lawyers magazine, and
Best Lawyers in America. Lance’s corporate clients have included numerous Fortune 500 public companies, large private companies, pension funds, and audit and law firms. His individual clients have included over a dozen current or former CEOs of some of the world’s largest public and private corporations (including two in the Fortune 25, and three more in the Fortune 500), as well as numerous other senior corporate officers and directors, high-level government officials, and candidates for federal office.
Lance’s matters have involved a wide array of substantive allegations, including securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, sanctions evasion, antitrust crimes, insider trading, insurance fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, public corruption, cyber-crimes, embezzlement, tax fraud, false claims, sanctions evasion, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, health care fraud, environmental crimes, and numerous civil violations. His clients have come from many different industries, including pharmaceutics, medical devices, software technology, hardware technology, banking, telecommunications, investment banking, auditing, cryptocurrency, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, automotive, retail, fashion, media, and government, among others.
Lance was born and raised near the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, where his defense career began as an ice hockey goalie. He graduated from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he played hockey. He then went on to Law School at Boston College Law School, where he was the Managing Editor of the Boston College Law Review. After law school, he clerked for Judge Harris L Hartz on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit before joining the firm. Lance lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with his wife and the one of his three children who has not yet fled the nest.
Updated Sep 2024
