Porwich, Alan S.

Fred Friedman's practice focuses on complex civil litigation and criminal and regulatory investigations. Fred has prosecuted and defended civil claims involving intellectual property, copyright and trademark, securities fraud, unfair business practices, and other business torts. He also has handled the defense of consumer class actions. In the criminal and regulatory field, Fred has undertaken the defense of a wide range of cases, including environmental violations, campaign finance violations, illegal arms exports, customs violations, political corruption, money laundering, and the full spectrum of fraud cases, including securities fraud, federal program fraud, federal procurement fraud, and bank fraud. Fred also has defended numerous criminal tax cases and has consulted on internet gambling issues.

Fred's recent civil representations include his representation of a distributor of dietary supplements sued by customers in a putative class action. The trial court's order in that case, denying plaintiffs' motion to certify a class of all purchasers of the product, was upheld on appeal. Fred currently is representing a major paint manufacturer in the California lead paint litigation. In the criminal area, Fred was part of a team that represented a large foreign corporation accused of violating United States tax laws by not paying payroll taxes on millions of dollars of employee compensation. That case ended successfully when a small subsidiary of the client pled guilty to a single count not involving fraud, with a promise by the prosecutor not to charge any of the company's executives or employees.