John J. Falvey Jr.

Jack Falvey, a partner in Goodwin's Securities Litigation & White Collar Defense practice, focuses on white collar criminal defense, governmental and internal investigations, and complex civil litigation. Mr. Falvey's practice includes representing companies, boards of directors and their committees, and individuals in connection with federal and state investigations in matters involving financial services and securities, healthcare fraud, and public corruption. His civil practice is focused in financial services litigation, including ERISA, securities fraud, mortgage-related litigation, and other complex business litigation matters. Mr. Falvey is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, where he prosecuted securities fraud and other financial fraud cases. He is an experienced first-chair trial lawyer in securities fraud, ERISA, commercial, and criminal cases.

In recent years, Mr. Falvey has represented clients in investigations and litigation in the following areas:

Financial Services

• A leading asset management firm in the successful defense at trial of an ERISA class action challenging its offering of proprietary mutual funds as part of its 401(k) plan.
• One of the world’s largest asset managers in its recent defense of an ERISA class action challenging the structure of its 401(k) plan.
• The special committee of a mutual fund board in connection with an investment adviser’s suspension of redemptions from one of its mutual funds.
• Members of the Boards of Directors of two regional banks in ongoing investigations by the Office of Comptroller of the Currency’s enforcement division.
• A mutual fund board in connection with an investigation of trading irregularities by two of its portfolio managers.
• A major financial institution in an investigation of misconduct arising from the deterioration of certain sub-prime assets.
• The audit committee of the board of a publicly traded software company in conducting an internal investigation into alleged accounting errors.
• The chief financial officers of two publicly traded companies and general counsel of a third public company in response to criminal and civil allegations of accounting irregularities.
• One of the country’s largest financial institutions in litigation and state investigations arising from the issuance and sale of mortgage backed securities and mortgage loan origination practices.
• The chief executive officer and general counsel of two major mutual fund firms in completing SEC investigations on favorable terms and defending against securities class action litigation arising from alleged market timing.

Health Care, Life Sciences, and Technology Companies

• The successful defense at trial of the chief financial officer of a technology firm on civil securities fraud claims arising from alleged accounting irregularities. 
• A pharmaceutical developer in an investigation concerning potential fraud in the conduct of clinical trials.
• A pharmaceutical distributor in an investigation of FDA reporting issues.
• A regulatory affairs executive at a medical device manufacturer in a criminal healthcare fraud investigation.
• A public company chief financial officer in a successful defense at trial of civil fraud charges arising from an accounting restatement.
• A digital currency issuer that provides accessible mobile internet access in an investigation by the Massachusetts Securities Division related to the company’s initial coin offering (ICO). 

Public Corruption and Other Matters

• An advertising firm in connection with a public corruption prosecution arising from political advertising.
• A worker's compensation insurance carrier in a federal criminal investigation of allegations of improper government payments.

Before joining Goodwin in 2005, Mr. Falvey was a partner at Testa, Hurwtitz & Thibeault in Boston. Before that, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 1994 to 2000, where he concentrated on white-collar criminal prosecutions, especially on the prosecution of insider trading, revenue recognition, and other securities fraud cases.

Mr. Falvey has been named a Massachusetts “Super Lawyer” by Boston magazine every year since 2005 and has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America Best Lawyers for his work in Criminal Defense: White-Collar 2022-2023. Mr. Falvey received a Director's Award in 2000 from the U.S. Department of Justice for superior performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for his work as lead prosecutor in the Centennial Technologies, Inc. securities fraud case.

Mr. Falvey writes and speaks regularly on topics relating to the conduct of internal investigations, the defense of civil and criminal securities fraud claims and other white-collar criminal matters.