Nicole Lueddeke 

As the senior associate representing large companies being investigated by federal, state and even international governments, Nicole D. Lueddeke does a lot of managing. Running the day-to-day work in such cases requires her to “manage up and manage down,” she said.

That is, Lueddeke has to “make sure that the right steps and procedure are being followed below me and to identify the most helpful and relevant facts and then be able to formulate that into a strategy and report that up” to the partners on the case.

Currently, she and her colleagues are representing the founder of a cryptocurrency that crashed, causing losses of $40 billion and prompting accusations of fraud. The team is defending the client in investigations by the Justice Department and the SEC. They also are working closely with attorneys in several countries with ongoing investigations or trials.

On a case this big, she is flooded with facts and information from the team below, which she then prepares for the partners. “I’m kind of the first level of defense in terms of formulating the strategy,” she said. “I basically pitched that strategy along with the facts that they learned to the partners.”

Lueddeke said she was brought into the case because of her expertise in international criminal law. For the previous three years, she spent much of her time representing a U.S. multibillion-dollar medical technology company in its internal investigation of potentially corrupt payments in Japan. It turned into one of Paul Hasting’s largest white-collar defense cases, in which she led a global team of more than 25 associates.

Recently, the Justice Department told the firm that it is effectively dropping its investigation. “We’re anticipating a favorable outcome” with the SEC, she said.

In a similar case for a Japanese multibillion-dollar medical device company, the firm earlier this year reached a very favorable resolution with the Justice Department. That matter had required Lueddeke to manage work in 17 countries.

Currently, she is helping to defend a financial services company that provides “earned wage access services.” It gives customers interest-free, non-recourse payments to, in effect, give them early access to their pay, she said. It does that in the expectation of receiving tips.

“It’s a really interesting business model,” Lueddeke said. “The problem is the method by which they solicit tips.” Several state attorneys general are investigating the company as a lender.

Recently, Lueddeke and her colleagues convinced Texas to drop its investigation. But Nevada is still looking at the company, and Massachusetts has begun an investigation, too.

A development in another of her cases made her happy. She was part of the team trial that won the lone not-guilty verdict for a defendant in the “Fat Leonard” Navy corruption scandal. Earlier this month, the judge threw out the convictions of the other four defendants for “outrageous” prosecutorial misconduct.

— Don DeBenedictis