Jim Griffin
is a partner in King & Spalding’s Washington, D.C., office and is a member of the firm’s Litigation and Antitrust Practice Group. Mr. Griffin’s practice focuses on criminal antitrust investigations, with special emphasis on international matters subject to investigation by multiple enforcement authorities. He also focuses on internal corporate investigations and provides counseling to clients on antitrust issues. Mr. Griffin has more than 26 years experience handling complex domestic and international antitrust cartel investigations and cases at the Department of Justice. Since joining King & Spalding in 2005, Mr. Griffin has represented corporate and individual clients in connection with antitrust and other criminal investigations in the financial services, marine hose, air cargo, freight forwarding, TFT-LCD, ocean shipping, pharmaceutical, management systems consulting, electric power generation, refrigeration compressor manufacturing, energy, polyurethane foam, car carrier ocean shipping, and auto parts industries.
Prior to joining King & Spalding, Mr. Griffin served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, the highest ranking career position in the division. While Deputy Assistant Attorney General (January 2000-December 2004), he supervised the prosecution of more than 250 criminal cases and obtained more than $1.5 billion in criminal fines. He was responsible for all matters affecting the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program and served as its primary liaison with foreign law enforcement authorities in connection with the detection and prosecution of international cartels. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Griffin served the Department in several other key positions, including as the Antitrust Division’s Director of Criminal Enforcement, Chief of the Division’s Chicago Field Office and Assistant Chief of the Division’s Atlanta Field Office. In 1993 and 1994, he served as a special Department of Justice advisor to the competition law enforcement agencies in Budapest, Hungary and Sofia, Bulgaria. Mr. Griffin was the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his exceptional accomplishments at the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service (1997), the Department’s highest award for its career professionals, and the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Executives (2003), the highest honor conferred on federal government executives.
Mr. Griffin is recognized as one of the leading competition lawyers in the country, and the world, by Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America, Washington D.C. Super Lawyers, Who’s Who Legal, and The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers. Chambers USA describesMr. Griffin as “an experienced and highly regarded antitrust cartel specialist” with an “extensive background in private practice and at the DOJ.” Mr. Griffin was named 2014 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year, Washington, D.C., by Best Lawyers in America.
Mr. Griffin is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law and previously served as Chair of the Criminal Practice and Procedure Committee. He also served as co-chair of the Section’s 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 International Cartel Workshops and served on the Planning Committee for the 2010 and 2012 International Cartel Workshops. He currently serves as a member of the ABA Antitrust Section’s International Cartel Task Force and is a non-governmental advisor to the International Competition Network, an international organization of antitrust enforcement agencies dedicated to the discussion of antitrust enforcement and policy issues and the formulation of proposals for procedural and substantive convergence. Mr. Griffin is a member of the International Bar Association and is a frequent speaker at antitrust cartel programs around the world.
Mr. Griffin received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina and his Juris Doctor magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina. He is a member of the South Carolina Bar, the State Bar of Georgia, the Bar of the District of Columbia, numerous federal appellate court and district court bars, and the bar of the United States Supreme Court.
