Brian E. Spears

Overview

Brian Spears founded Spears Manning & Martini in 2013 after serving as an Assistant United States Attorney and Senior Counsel for United Nation’s Oil-for-Food Program investigation led by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, and after 10 years in private practice at two prominent Connecticut law firms. Brian’s practice focuses on investigations, white collar defense and civil litigation.

In February 2023, Brian was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, reflecting his passion for trial advocacy and jury trial work in a wide range of criminal and civil cases involving allegations of foreign corruption, antitrust violations, securities fraud, insider trading, money laundering and commercial disputes. In April 2023, Brian and his colleagues Leslie Cahill and Ivan Ladd-Smith secured an acquittal for their client, the lead defendant in a nationally reported criminal antitrust case involving allegations of unlawful allocation of employees.

Brian has represented various entities in connection with internal and government investigations. Most recently, in March 2023, Brian secured a formal declination from the Department of Justice FCPA Unit for an institutional client under the Corporate Enforcement Policy.

Brian regularly represents clients before the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where he has appeared for argument more than 20 times in connection with criminal and civil appeals.

Brian developed his passion for investigations and trial work under the tutelage of one of Connecticut’s most renowned criminal defense lawyers. Then, in 1998, Brian joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, where he served for more than 6 years as a federal prosecutor. In that role, Brian investigated and prosecuted a variety of cases, including securities fraud, health care fraud, money laundering, racketeering, public corruption, tax and environmental law. In 2006, Brian joined Chairman Volcker’s probe of how the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein abused the United Nation’s Oil-for-Food Program. Brian reviewed the activities of the U.N. Secretary General’s office and deposed the late Secretary General Kofi Annan. After serving on the Volcker Oil-for-Food investigation, in 2006, Brian re-entered private practice as a shareholder at a prominent Connecticut law firm, where he chaired the firm’s government investigations and white-collar defense practice, before founding Spears Manning & Martini in 2013.

See Practices for a description of cases Brian has handled.

Brian is listed in Chambers USA in the category of Litigation: White Collar Crime and Government Investigations. Brian is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the category of White Collar Criminal Defense. Brian has also been recognized by Super Lawyers as a top-rated attorney in the area of White Collar Crime.

Brian is a member of the Executive Committee of the Federal Practice Section of the Connecticut Bar Association. Brian has also served the federal court in Connecticut on the CJA Standing Committee, the Local Rules Committee, and the U.S. Magistrate Judge Selection Committee.

Brian is a magna cum laude graduate of Quinnipiac University School of Law, where he was the editor-in-chief of the Law Review. Brian served as President of the Quinnipiac University School of Law Alumni Association. For nearly 10 years, Brian served on the Board of Trustees for Quinnipiac University.

Immediately following law school, Brian clerked for the Honorable Barry Schaller of the Connecticut Appellate Court, followed by a second clerkship in 1993 with the late Honorable Warren W. Eginton, a Senior United States District Judge in the District of Connecticut.