Benno Schwarz is a German-qualified partner in the Munich office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He is a member of the firm's International Corporate Transactions and White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group.
For nearly 20 years, Mr. Schwarz has advised companies on national and international M&A and private equity transactions, joint ventures and other investments by foreign companies in Germany, Europe, Russia and the U.S. as well as in accompanying acquisition financing.
Additionally, Mr. Schwarz has many years of experience in the area of corporate anti-bribery compliance, especially issues surrounding the enforcement of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and the UK Bribery Act as well as Russian law. This includes the planning and implementation of internal corporate investigations both nationally and internationally, advising on the structuring, implementation and assessment of compliance management systems and the representation of companies before domestic and foreign authorities during associated criminal and administrative proceedings.
Especially noteworthy is Mr. Schwarz’ experience advising companies in connection with FCPA monitorships, whether in a leadership function as part of an international team from Gibson Dunn advising the Siemens compliance monitor, the first non-U.S. compliance monitor in conjunction with the world’s largest FCPA settlement thus far, or as an advisor for other DAX-30 and Fortune 100 companies in relation to FCPA monitorships or disclosures according to the FCPA or to the UK Bribery Act.
Mr. Schwarz has been continuously recommended by numerous publications in the categories of "Corporate" and "M&A" (JUVE Handbook, Legal 500 EMEA, Chambers Europe, Best Lawyers Germany and Legal Experts EMEA) and clients have appreciated his "calm, logical and reasoned approach" (Chambers Europe 2011) and have described him as "highly intelligent, outstanding and extremely professional" (JUVE Handbook 2011/2012). In addition, the JUVE Handbook 2011/2012 recommended the Munich office’s White Collar Defense and Investigation team in the category "Compliance Investigations."
He regularly publishes and speaks on compliance topics. He recently published the article "Russland überarbeitet korruptionsrechtliche Regelungen im Hinblick auf seinen OECD-Beitritt" (CCZ 6/2011) and "FCPA Compliance Monitorships – US Marotte oder Flavor of the New Times?" (CCZ 2/2011). He has also appeared in multiple webcasts speaking on the topic of Anti-Corruption Enforcement and Compliance.
Mr. Schwarz speaks German, English and is a state-certified translator (IHK) for Russian, which makes it possible for him to carry out transactions and internal investigations in all three languages.
Representative Transactions include: