Spencer Gottlieb

Spencer Gottlieb has represented clients in the technology, financial services, food and beverage, energy, life sciences, healthcare, sports and entertainment, education, and consumer products industries. He advises companies exposed to significant criminal and civil liability before the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state attorneys general, and others. 

Spencer’s recent engagements include his representation of entities in various federal grand jury investigations involving allegations of embezzlement, workplace harassment, kickbacks, and theft of government funds. He has investigated, on behalf of companies and their boards of directors, a wide range of concerns from the alleged disclosure of proprietary information and other professional and personal misconduct to whistleblower Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations (including purchase order skimming, tax fraud, and ghost payrolls) and third-party vendor fraud. Additionally, he has frequently partnered with companies to develop anti-corruption and other internal policies, train directors and officers on global anti-corruption statutes, and navigate myriad compliance issues (including anti-money laundering controls, political contribution filings, and state regulatory disclosures). 

Spencer's substantial civil litigation experience includes securing a complete win, after a weeklong arbitration, for a startup company's founders against a former advisor, achieving a first-of-its-kind victory for solar energy customers seeking compensation for grid exports, and defeating proposed emergency relief in the Illinois Supreme Court. 

Spencer maintains an active and varied pro bono practice. He recently assisted the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission's homicide confession review unit and co-drafted a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief on the constitutionality of judicial appointments. 

Spencer earned his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was an editor and contributor for the Michigan Law Review. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Eric N. Vitaliano of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Before law school, Spencer taught high school algebra with the Teach For America program.