Eric Russo joined Quinn Emanuel as a partner in January 2021.
Eric has a 20 year-experience in the French court system, where he was successively assigned to high-profile positions such as investigating judge, prosecutor at the Appellate Court of Paris or Deputy prosecutor of the Parquet National Financier (PNF), the leading French public prosecutor's office for economic and financial crimes.
In France, Eric is actually the first and only senior prosecutor to have moved from the prosecutor’s office to a law firm.
Eric has developed an unparalleled experience in leading international white collar investigations. He has been involved in a great number of criminal trials, both before the Paris criminal court and the Appellate court of Paris, and successfully led the negotiations of the largest settlement agreements (CRPC and CJIP, the French equivalent of guilty pleas and DPAs) concluded over the last years in France, some of them in coordination with the US and the UK enforcement authorities. He’s an expert in the art of coordinating criminal defense in cross-border proceedings.
His detailed and operational knowledge of the French criminal procedure rules is a very valuable asset for his clients. He regularly acts in criminal investigations in France and abroad, including in extradition and European arrest warrant proceedings. A specialist in multi-jurisdictional cases, Eric Russo also advises his clients in the context of the execution of mutual assistance requests from foreign regulators, including on the application of the French blocking statute, for which he has developed a significant operational expertise in his practice as well as a prosecutor or a lawyer.
Based on his rare and inside knowledge of the expectations of French and foreign enforcement authorities and the way they develop enforcement actions, Eric also assists his clients in strengthening and implementing effective internal compliance systems (AFA, RGPD, duty of care, ESG) as well as in conducting thorough internal investigations or dealing with whistleblowing alerts. His insights on the dynamics of the French court system are unparalleled among the French lawyers community.
He regularly participates in training courses organized by the Nanterre Bar Criminal Defense School, the Paris Bar School (EFB) and the National School of Magistrates (ENM). He teaches at the University of Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne and in the Master 2 Compliance and Business Ethics at the University of CY Cergy-Pontoise on white collar investigations, international judicial cooperation, the French blocking statute, internal investigations and the CJIP.
- National School of Magistrates – Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature (ENM)
(1999-2002) - University of Lorraine
(Master in Business Law and Tax, 1998)
The Nanterre Bar
- French
- English
- Parquet National Financier (PNF):
- Deputy-Prosecutor with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, 2015-2020
- Deputy-Prosecutor with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, 2015-2020
- Court Of Appeal Of Paris:
- Secretary General of the Public Prosecutor's Office, 2012-2015
- Secretary General of the Public Prosecutor's Office, 2012-2015
- Ministry Of Justice - Civil Affairs And Sceau Directorate:
- Head of contract law division, 2005-2011
- Head of contract law division, 2005-2011
- First Degree Court Of Reims:
- Investigating Judge, 2002-2005
- GIR Awards 2020 – Most important development of the year (Airbus case)
- GIR Awards 2020 – Prosecutor of the year (PNF’s Airbus case team)
- « De la loi Sapin 2 à la loi Sapin 3 » - La lettre des juristes d’affaires Magazine – 18 juillet 2022
- « Anti money laundering trends » - Financier Worldwide Magazine – July-September 2022
- « Developments in European anti-money laundering” – Risk & Compliance, April-June 2022
- « RSE : les bonnes intentions obligent désormais ceux qui les expriment », La semaine juridique 9 juin 2022, n°23
- “Visites domiciliaires fiscales : pas de protection des données stockées à distance », Revue internationale de la compliance et de l’éthique des affaires – n°3 Juin 2022
- «Corruption : Evaluation de la France par l’OCDE. En progrès, mais peut mieux faire ! », Revue internationale de la compliance et de l’éthique des affaires n°2 – Avril 2022
- Featured in PNF and AFA Publish Draft Guidance for Corruption Investigations, Global Investigations Review, 17 March 2022
- “Gauvain bill. Towards a new era of anti-corruption in France? - International review of compliance and business ethics n°1 – February 2022
- "The new challenges of compliance" - Cahiers de droit de l'entreprise n°1, January-February 2022
- Featured in France to Consider Tough Anti-Corruption Reforms, Global Investigations Review, 24 October 2021
- "International corruption: the noose is tightening a little more around companies", International review of compliance and business ethics n°5 - October 2021
- “The rising star of the national financial prosecutor's office becomes a lawyer. », Les Echos, October 7, 2020
- Featured in French Airbus prosecutor to join US law, Global Investigations Review, 12 October 2020
- Director of the annual training session for magistrates : “Strategies and methodology for white collar crime investigations” (Ecole nationale de la Magistrature)
- Lecturer on the Magistrats-Avocats-Juristes training session about judicial negotiations
- Lecturer – Diplôme Universitaire Compliance et Ethique des affaires – Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne.
- "CJIP: adjustments made by the law of December 24, 2020 and other subjects for reflection for the future", AJ Penal, February 2021
- Auditor of the 17th annual session of the IHEE (Institute for Advanced Business Studies), 2017