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John Irving
Partner

John S. Irving, Esq.

Biography

After nearly 30 years as a Washington, D.C., attorney, John Irving has broad experience with white collar criminal matters, government investigations, and corporate internal investigations. Mr. Irving has held senior positions in the U.S. Department of Justice and the EPA, worked on Capitol Hill and for an Independent Counsel, and spent more than a decade at private-sector law firms.

Mr. Irving’s practice focuses on environmental investigations, as well as other white collar matters. He joined the firm in 2021, after serving as Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance (OECA).
Mr. Irving previously spent more than a decade in the D.C. Office of Holland & Knight, where he was a member of the White Collar Defense, Investigations, and Compliance Team. There, his work included the representation of a gold mine corporate officer in the first criminal Clean Water Act prosecution in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, and on a three-year Foreign Corrupt Practices Act court-appointed monitorship.
Mr. Irving’s experience also includes a decade with the Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney in Washington, D.C., as Counsel to two Deputies Attorney General, and as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. Mr. Irving also served as Investigative Counsel to the Government Reform & Oversight Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in an investigation of foreign campaign contributions to the DNC, and in the Office of Independent Counsel investigating former HUD Secretary Henry G. Cisneros.
John is admitted to the following bars: Maryland, District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Districts of Maryland and the District of Columbia. John is a Washington, D.C., area native, a father of four, and an avid outdoorsman.

Experience

Representative matters for Mr. Irving’s experience as both a government and private-sector attorney in Washington, D.C., include:
  • Counsel for one of the three codefendants in the Mar-a-Lago Special Counsel classified documents case.
  • Counsel in United States v. Peter Navarro involving allegations of Contempt of Congress and the assertion of Executive Privilege.
  • Counsel for Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) asserting Speech or Debate Clause protection over seized cell phone records.
  • Counsel for several witnesses subpoenaed by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol and in related DOJ investigations.
 
  • Criminal and Civil Environmental Enforcement
    • Internal investigations of potential environmental crimes involving the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and other environmental statutes;
    • Lead defense trial counsel for a mining company corporate officer charges with violations of the Clean Water Act in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska;
    • Lead defense counsel in a RCRA investigation and prosecution in Savannah, Georgia, involving a national transportation company;
    • Lead prosecutor and trial counsel for vessel oil pollution cases in Florida and California; and
    • Defense of federal government agency decisions with respect to mining permits, U.S. Coast Guard live-fire training exercises, and natural resources damages at the Fernald former DOE uranium processing facility in Ohio.
 
  • Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Internal Investigations and Compliance
    • Extensive investigations for clients in the construction, oil & gas, manufacturing, and medical device industries;
    • Assisted clients in evaluating whether to voluntarily disclose violations to DOJ & SEC;
    • Briefed government agencies, audit committees, and corporate management;
    • Key team member on a three-year DOJ-appointed compliance monitorship;
    • Witness interviews and forensic data collection in India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Europe;
    • Worked closely with forensic accountants to evaluate and enhance internal controls; and
    • Evaluated FCPA compliance programs and developed employee training.
 
  • Congressional Investigations
    • Political law investigations involving the House and Senate Ethics Committees, Federal Election Commission, and the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section;
    • Represented corporate and individual clients in congressional investigations before several House and Senate committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee’s inquiry into privatized military housing and the House Government Reform Committee’s inquiry into PFAS contamination;
    • Special Impeachment Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary in the successful impeachment of a United States District Court Judge; and
    • Investigative Counsel to the (then called) House Government Reform and Oversight Committee’s investigation of illegal foreign campaign contributions.
 
  • False Claims Act Investigations and Qui Tam Defense
    • Represented government contractors for the Defense Department and several other government agencies; and
    • Represented medical device manufacturers regarding alleged Anti-Kickback Statute violations.
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