RobertStauffer

Robert Stauffer serves as the General Counsel for Jenner & Block, managing the firm’s Office of the General Counsel and coordinating all internal legal, professional responsibility, and risk management matters for the firm. Bob also advises the firm on strategic and operational decisions. He works closely with other firm leaders to develop and implement firmwide policies to address risk management and loss prevention considerations.

Bob brings valuable experience in assisting corporate clients with internal investigations, legal and ethical compliance, and defense of government investigations. He has also represented individuals and corporations on a wide range of criminal matters and civil commercial litigation. He is experienced at providing compliance counseling and conducting internal investigations for clients faced with internal or external allegations of wrongdoing in areas as diverse as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, health care fraud and abuse, corporate accounting, environmental compliance, and theft of intellectual property. Bob has represented individuals and corporations in grand jury and SEC investigations, as well as in trials and appeals in civil and criminal cases, including whistleblower qui tam actions.

Bob maintains an active pro bono practice, representing indigent clients in such matters as immigration proceedings, civil rights impact litigation, domestic relations matters, human trafficking relief, and criminal cases.  He has successfully secured freedom on five occasions for individuals who were wrongfully convicted and spent time in prison. For over a decade, he worked on behalf of Patrick Pursley, who had been convicted of murder in a 1994 jury trial, to win a new trial and then prevail at that new trial, exonerating Mr.Pursley after over 23 years in prison. He was the lead attorney on a firm team that won the Seventh Circuit Bar Association’s Pro Bono and Public Service Award for representing Nicole Harris in the successful fight to exonerate her after she was wrongfully convicted of murder in connection with the death of her 4-year-old son. He also served as the lead attorney on a team that won Northwestern Children's Law Pro Bono Project Appellate Award for the firm’s work in convincing the Seventh Circuit that Chicago police had violated the constitutional rights of a youth who was coerced into confessing to a murder of an elderly woman when he was 10 years old.