Wright, Joseph T.

Joseph W. Martini is a partner in the New Haven, CT and New York offices of Wiggin and Dana and is a member of the firm's White-Collar Defense, Investigations and Corporate Compliance Practice Group and Litigation Practice Group. He concentrates his practice in criminal matters and complex commercial litigation, with a particular emphasis on counseling clients in prosecutions and investigations including a broad range of federal criminal laws, involving tax fraud, mortgage and financial fraud, bankruptcy fraud, mail and wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, the environment, theft of trade secrets, health care fraud, municipal corruption, fraud in the defense contracting industry and occupational safety and health (OSHA) matters. Mr. Martini regularly conducts internal investigations for companies in the financial, health care, construction and defense industries.

An accomplished trial and appellate lawyer, Mr. Martini has tried numerous jury cases to verdict and has briefed and argued over 20 cases before federal and state appellate courts. On behalf of a diverse group of clients -- individuals, government officials and public and privately held companies -- he regularly litigates sophisticated criminal and commercial disputes in federal and state courts, and before arbitration panels. Mr. Martini has represented a former Connecticut State Senator on appeal from bribery, mail fraud and tax convictions. He also successfully defended an international construction firm against allegations of criminal OSHA violations and violation of the Seaman's Manslaughter Statute, an officer of a Fortune 150 corporation in an accounting and securities fraud investigation and an international franchisor in a criminal investigation of franchisee criminal activity. Joe is included in The Best Lawyers in America in the category of White-Collar Criminal Defense (for more about the standards for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, please click here).

Mr. Martini served for nine years as an Assistant United States Attorney, investigating and prosecuting a broad range of federal crimes, including mortgage and financial frauds, RICO, money laundering and violent crimes, environmental crimes and tax offenses. He was awarded the Department of Justice's Director's Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and was also an instructor at the FBI Sensitive Operations and Undercover School at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Before joining the U.S. Department of Justice, Mr. Martini was a litigation associate in the New York office of White & Case.

Mr. Martini is on the Editorial Board of the American Bar Association, Section on Litigation, Committee on Criminal Litigation Newsletter, and is an active member of the Connecticut Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Federal Bar Council. He also served two terms as a member of the CJA panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Mr. Martini frequently lectures on white collar matters before groups in the health care and defense industry, including the Society for International Affairs and the Connecticut Hospital Association.

He graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Gettysburg College and received his J.D. cum laude from Brooklyn Law School.