James D. Gatta

James Gatta is a partner in Goodwin’s Government Investigations and Enforcement and White Collar Defense practices. His practice focuses on representing U.S. and multinational companies and individuals with respect to government and internal corporate investigations, white collar criminal defense, regulatory compliance and related civil litigation, and complex commercial litigation. He is recommended by The Legal 500 U.S. for his corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense practice.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Gatta served as the Chief of the Criminal Division at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY). In that role, Mr. Gatta oversaw all of the EDNY’s criminal investigations and prosecutions, including some of the nation’s most significant corporate and securities fraud, public corruption, foreign bribery, cybercrime, sanctions and export enforcement, international terrorism and organized and violent crimes cases. Mr. Gatta served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the EDNY for over a decade, where he held a number of leadership positions and handled a range of cases. As Chief of the EDNY’s Public Integrity Section, Mr. Gatta led a team of experienced federal prosecutors in investigations, prosecutions and trials involving corruption and white collar offenses, including those involving elected and appointed government officials, such as bribery and embezzlement as well as financial, honest services, campaign finance and tax fraud. Among other cases, he managed and led investigations that resulted in the convictions of New York State legislators and a sitting U.S. congressman.

Mr. Gatta is an experienced courtroom advocate and has successfully tried several federal criminal trials and argued numerous federal criminal appeals. He also earned a number of awards and commendations for his work as a prosecutor. In 2017, he received an Executive Office of United States Attorneys Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and was named a “Prosecutor of the Year” by the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation in 2011.

Mr. Gatta previously served as a Lecturer in Law at Columbia University School of Law, where he co-taught a seminar on federal litigation. Before his tenure at the EDNY, Mr. Gatta was an associate at Goodwin and represented individuals and entities in white collar criminal and regulatory matters. Earlier in his career, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Frank Maas in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Prior to law school, Mr. Gatta was a New York City Urban Fellow.