Full Name
Jenna Dabbs
Job Title
Partner
Organization
Kaplan Hecker & Fink
Speaker Bio
Jenna Dabbs is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer whose practice focuses on government and internal investigations, white collar criminal defense, complex civil litigation and regulatory compliance. Jenna is a former federal prosecutor with extensive trial and investigative experience in both the public and private sectors.
Jenna served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 2006 to 2014. As a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, Jenna investigated and prosecuted a wide range of federal securities and commodities fraud offenses, and coordinated parallel civil enforcement proceedings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and other regulatory agencies. Jenna also has extensive experience litigating restitution and asset forfeiture issues.
As a member of the Southern District’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit, Jenna led many high profile extraterritorial investigations involving terrorism and national security, international money-laundering, and global narcotics trafficking. She has conducted numerous investigations in parallel with U.S. and foreign law-enforcement, intelligence services, and regulators, including the FBI, OFAC, DEA’s Special Operations Division, the Department of Defense, and the Department of State. Jenna also served for two years as the Chief of the Narcotics Unit in the Southern District.
Jenna has served as lead or co-lead counsel in numerous federal criminal trials, on charges ranging from bank fraud and money laundering to narcotics trafficking and attempted murder. She has directed and supervised hundreds of investigations in a wide variety of matters, including securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, domestic and international narcotics trafficking and associated crimes of violence, drug diversion, money laundering, sanctions violations, and material support of terrorist organizations. Jenna has also briefed and argued numerous criminal appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Jenna represents individuals and corporations in internal investigations and a wide variety of government and regulatory investigations by the Department of Justice, the SEC, the CFTC, FINRA and other regulatory agencies involving, among other things, securities and corporate fraud, insider trading, money laundering, tax fraud and public corruption. She also represents individuals and corporations in complex contract and employment disputes and other sensitive situations.
Following her career in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and prior to joining Kaplan & Company, Jenna served as Senior Counsel at Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., an SEC-registered investment manager overseeing both public and private investment funds. Pershing Square is a concentrated research-intensive fundamental value investor in the public markets which often employs an activist strategy. At Pershing, Jenna was a member of both the Legal and Compliance Team and the Investment Team, and was responsible for litigation and regulatory matters, as well as compliance principally in the areas of trading, cybersecurity and data security and privacy. As a member of the Investment Team, Jenna participated in the investment research process with a focus on legal and regulatory risk.
Before entering government service, Jenna was a litigation associate in the New York office of Covington & Burling LLP, where she represented institutions and individuals in connection with criminal and regulatory investigations, complex civil litigation, and SEC enforcement proceedings. Jenna clerked for the Hon. Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She received her law degree from Columbia University in 2001, where she was a senior editor of the Law Review, a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a Public Interest Fellow. Jenna graduated with high honors from Wesleyan University in 1998.
Jenna served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 2006 to 2014. As a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, Jenna investigated and prosecuted a wide range of federal securities and commodities fraud offenses, and coordinated parallel civil enforcement proceedings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and other regulatory agencies. Jenna also has extensive experience litigating restitution and asset forfeiture issues.
As a member of the Southern District’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit, Jenna led many high profile extraterritorial investigations involving terrorism and national security, international money-laundering, and global narcotics trafficking. She has conducted numerous investigations in parallel with U.S. and foreign law-enforcement, intelligence services, and regulators, including the FBI, OFAC, DEA’s Special Operations Division, the Department of Defense, and the Department of State. Jenna also served for two years as the Chief of the Narcotics Unit in the Southern District.
Jenna has served as lead or co-lead counsel in numerous federal criminal trials, on charges ranging from bank fraud and money laundering to narcotics trafficking and attempted murder. She has directed and supervised hundreds of investigations in a wide variety of matters, including securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, domestic and international narcotics trafficking and associated crimes of violence, drug diversion, money laundering, sanctions violations, and material support of terrorist organizations. Jenna has also briefed and argued numerous criminal appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Jenna represents individuals and corporations in internal investigations and a wide variety of government and regulatory investigations by the Department of Justice, the SEC, the CFTC, FINRA and other regulatory agencies involving, among other things, securities and corporate fraud, insider trading, money laundering, tax fraud and public corruption. She also represents individuals and corporations in complex contract and employment disputes and other sensitive situations.
Following her career in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and prior to joining Kaplan & Company, Jenna served as Senior Counsel at Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., an SEC-registered investment manager overseeing both public and private investment funds. Pershing Square is a concentrated research-intensive fundamental value investor in the public markets which often employs an activist strategy. At Pershing, Jenna was a member of both the Legal and Compliance Team and the Investment Team, and was responsible for litigation and regulatory matters, as well as compliance principally in the areas of trading, cybersecurity and data security and privacy. As a member of the Investment Team, Jenna participated in the investment research process with a focus on legal and regulatory risk.
Before entering government service, Jenna was a litigation associate in the New York office of Covington & Burling LLP, where she represented institutions and individuals in connection with criminal and regulatory investigations, complex civil litigation, and SEC enforcement proceedings. Jenna clerked for the Hon. Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She received her law degree from Columbia University in 2001, where she was a senior editor of the Law Review, a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a Public Interest Fellow. Jenna graduated with high honors from Wesleyan University in 1998.
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