Robert C. Blume

Robert C. Blume is a partner in the Denver and Dallas offices of Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher. An accomplished trial lawyer, Rob served as a federal prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice and earned four Special Achievement Awards from the Attorney General. In addition to complex civil litigation, Rob’s practice focuses on internal investigations, compliance, and the defense of business crimes. Rob is an active member of the Firm’s Global White-Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group, Litigation Practice Group, False Claims Act/Qui Tam Defense Practice Group, Crisis Management Practice Group, and Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Data Innovation Practice Group.

Rob has achieved the highest Band 1 ranking by Chambers USA (2012-2024) as a leading lawyer in Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations. He also was selected by Super Lawyers for excellence in Criminal Defense: White Collar (2019-2024) and recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® for work in three areas: Criminal Defense: White-Collar, Commercial Litigation, and Litigation Securities (2013-2025). Who’s Who Legal recognized Rob in the 2024 edition of their Global Investigations Guide and Benchmark Litigation named Rob a “Litigation Star” both nationally and in Colorado (2018-2025), after previously labeling him a “Future Star” (2015-2017). Finally, Law Week Colorado has named Rob “Best White-Collar Lawyer” (2016).

During his more than 30 years as a trial lawyer, Rob has prepared for and conducted many dozens of bench and jury trials in the federal and state courts of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington, DC, as well as in Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. His litigation clients include executives, private and public companies, and a sovereign African nation, and they operate within the health care, financial services, oil & gas, aerospace, technology and digital media, retail goods, and hospitality industries. Rob has defended clients against state and federal claims for breach of contract, fraud, racketeering, theft, conversion, misappropriation of trade secrets, patent infringement, and defamation. He also has served as plaintiff’s counsel for clients in the oil and gas industry, including as a key part of the trial team that helped Chevron win a two-month RICO trial barring the enforcement of a $9 billion fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment, which The American Lawyer called “The Case of the Century” and The Wall Street Journal labeled "The Legal Fraud of the Century." 

Rob’s white-collar, business crimes, and investigations practice pits him against government agencies around the country, including the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the World Bank, and various State Attorneys General and related law enforcement agencies. In this context, Rob represents clients accused of antitrust violations, securities fraud, healthcare fraud, corruption and bribery, cybersecurity issues, money laundering, consumer protection violations, and environmental crimes.

In addition, Rob defends clients accused of federal and state False Claims Act (FCA) violations involving breach of contract, kickback, and Medicare/Medicaid fraud theories. Rob’s government contracting clients include diagnostic laboratories, insurers, medical supply companies, third-party billers, defense contractors, and a provider of investigative services. In district and appellate courts, Rob has, among other things, convinced DOJ to decline intervention, summarily defeated whistleblower claims, successfully argued for new statutory interpretations, and obtained early-stage dismissals of FCA claims for his clients.

Rob also is recognized as an expert in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and has helped clients navigate internal investigations, deploy compliance initiatives, and defend against government actions. In that role, Rob has conducted investigations and due diligence reviews in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, India, the Middle East, Central and South America, and Australia. Rob advises executives and Boards regarding internal company practices, compliance programs and training, fiduciary duties, disclosure issues, and human resource concerns. Rob has participated in three separate FCPA Monitorships, including as a lawyer leading the monitor’s investigation team for Siemens.

Rob lectures, publishes, and trains on topics including the attorney-client privilege, internal investigations, the FCPA, the FCA, search warrants/dawn raids, off-channel communications, electronic evidence, and trial advocacy. Most recently, Reuters published his insights on minimizing third-party risk under the FCPA in Practical Law: The Journal. Rob served as a faculty member and instructor at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy’s Advanced Trial Advocacy Program in Washington, DC and its Advanced Deposition Skills training in Boulder, Colorado and is a frequent guest lecturer at the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver and at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder. He also traveled to Africa with Lawyers Without Borders to train prosecutors and judges as part of the Kenyan Wildlife Crime Project.

Additionally, Rob serves as co-chair of the Rocky Mountain Regional Subcommittee of the ABA’s White-Collar Crime Committee and previously served as the national co-chair of the Corporate Criminal Liability Subcommittee. Rob is an elected member of the Texas Bar Foundation.

Before joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Rob served with distinction as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Assigned to the Homicide/Major Crimes Section, Rob investigated and tried more than 35 homicide, drug, and violent crime trials. Before that, Rob was with the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, where he investigated and tried a number of organized crime and white-collar cases involving RICO, mail and wire fraud, securities fraud, credit card fraud, insurance fraud, cybersecurity breaches, FCPA violations, obstruction of justice, money laundering, and conspiracy.

Rob graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, was the Associate Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal, and was a member of Georgetown’s Criminal Justice Clinic. Rob received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Brown University and is admitted to practice law in Colorado, Texas, and the District of Columbia.

Capabilities

• White Collar Defense and Investigations
• Anti-Corruption & FCPA
• Crisis Management
• Energy and Infrastructure
• FDA and Health Care
• False Claims Act / Qui Tam Defense
• Financial Institutions
• Government Contracts
• Law Firm Defense
• Litigation
• National Security
• Oil and Gas
• Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Data Innovation
• Securities Litigation
• Sports Law
• Tech and Innovation
• Trials

Credentials

Education:

• Georgetown University - 1992 Juris Doctor
• Brown University - 1989 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• Colorado Bar
• District of Columbia Bar
• Texas Bar

Clerkships:

• USDC, Central District of California, Hon. Edward Rafeedie, 1992 - 1993