Joseph E. diGenova, founding partner of the Washington, D.C. law firm of diGenova & Toensing, LLP represents individuals, corporations and other entities before the Federal courts, Congress, and U.S. cabinet departments and agencies on criminal, civil, administrative and investigative matters. In December 1992, he was appointed Independent Counsel in the Clinton Passport File Search matter. He was appointed Chairman of the Grievance Committee of the D.C. District Court in 1995 by the judges of that court. In 1997, he was named Special Counsel by the U.S. House of Representatives to probe the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. As a result of that assignment, he was appointed by the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, to sit on the Independent Review Board, which oversees the Teamsters pursuant to a 1989 Consent Decree. He is on that Board with former FBI and CIA Director William Webster and former U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti. In 2007, Mr. diGenova was retained by the New York State Senate to investigate then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer in the Troopergate matter.
His practice emphasizes representation to resolve disputes with various branches of the Federal government through negotiation, litigation, and/or legislation. He does white collar criminal defense work for individuals (such as the former CEO of BCCI) and corporations, conducting internal investigations as well. He represents individuals and organizations in Congressional investigations.
For four years, diGenova was United States Attorney, District of Columbia, which is the largest such office, having more than 400 attorneys. He supervised complex Federal criminal and civil matters including international drug smuggling, public corruption, espionage, insider trading, tax fraud, extradition, fraud, RICO, export control and international terrorism. Many of these prosecutions involved negotiations with foreign governments. He conducted a wide-ranging probe of corruption in the D.C. government, which led to the conviction of two deputy mayors. He led the prosecution of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. He was the Principal Assistant U.S. Attorney during the prosecution of attempted Presidential assassin, John W. Hinckley.
DiGenova has extensive experience on Capitol Hill. He was Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the Senate Rules Committee and Counsel to the Senate Judiciary, Governmental Affairs and Select Intelligence Committees. He has conducted confirmation, investigative, legislative and oversight hearings, drafted legislation and testified before both Houses of Congress. He also served as Administrative Assistant and Legislative Director to U.S. Senator Charles Mathias.
Mr. diGenova has published articles on criminal law, terrorism, and Congressional oversight and has spoken on those and other issues to various organizations throughout the United States. As part of his advocacy approach, he has appeared on Court TV, Lehrer News Hour, Meet the Press, Face the Nation, Nightline, 60 Minutes, Crossfire, This Week With David Brinkley, John McLaughlin’s One On One, Today Show, Good Morning America, and other national television programs. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Cincinnati and his law degree from Georgetown University.
