Jan Lawrence Handzlik

Jan Lawrence Handzlik is an accomplished investigations and trial lawyer with a national and international practice. He represents individuals and corporations in criminal investigations and prosecutions, regulatory actions and complex civil litigation. Jan also coordinates cross-border criminal investigations with civil, regulatory and administrative proceedings, and conducts corporate internal investigations.

An experienced trial lawyer, Jan has tried well over one hundred jury trials and numerous bench trials to verdict in the United States Federal and State courts. He is a recognized authority on financial fraud, transnational crime and federal criminal practice. Jan’s practice includes matters involving civil and criminal securities fraud, investment fraud, bank fraud and money laundering, cybercrime and currency trading, commercial bribery and tax fraud offenses. His expertise extends to investigations and criminal prosecutions under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) as well as bribery and "books and records" offenses under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and U.K. Bribery Act.

While with the U.S. Department of Justice, Jan served as a federal prosecutor in the Major Fraud & Special Prosecutions Section of the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. He conducted grand jury investigations and prosecuted federal criminal cases at trial and on appeal. Subsequently, Jan was one of the first independent law compliance monitors appointed under the FCPA. In that position, he monitored and reported on the operations of a Swiss multinational corporation for three years. Jan is also one of only a few U.S. lawyers to have successfully defended clients, a corporation and its CEO, at trial in a major FCPA
prosecution, U.S. v. Lindsey Manufacturing Company, et al.

Jan has been recognized in numerous national and international publications including, from 1983 through 2025, all thirty-one editions of Best Lawyers in America, the most respected peer review journal for the U.S. legal profession. Handzlik & Associates has again been recognized in its companion publication, Best Law Firms in America, in its 2025 edition.

The prestigious British publications, Who’s Who Legal and Global Investigations Review, now published by Lexology Index (Law Business Research Ltd., U.K.), have again recognized Jan as a Who’s Who Legal Thought Leader: GIR 2025 (United States). Once again, he is named as a Global Leader in Investigations and Criminal Defence for both Corporates & Individuals. These respected publications identify law firms and “practitioners [who] are among the very best in the world in their respective fields, without exception.” Based on thousands of votes and nominations, Who’s Who and GIR rank Jan as one of the “world’s foremost…business crime defence…lawyers.”

Jan has been recognized in Euromoney’s Expert Guides, published in the U.K. (Legal Media Group), as one of the leading criminal defense practitioners in the United States. California’s leading legal newspaper, The Daily Journal, named Jan one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California,” an honor given to “…the state’s most influential attorneys.” He also received a California Attorney of the Year Award (the CLAY Award) from California Lawyer Magazine for “extraordinary achievement” in criminal law. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers also presented Jan with its White-Collar Criminal Defense Award.

Jan is deeply involved in bar association and public service activities. He served as Chair of the American Bar Association’s National White Collar Crime Committee for two years. Jan also served as Co- Chair of the International Bar Association’s Business Crime Committee for two years. In that role, he helped organize and present the IBA’s annual Transnational Crime Conference in São Paulo, Berlin and Panama City, and mock trials at the IBA’s Annual Conferences in Vienna, Dublin and Washington, DC.

For six years, Jan served on the Governing Council of the ABA’s Criminal Justice Section. For five years, he served on the ABA President’s Task Force on the Attorney-Client Privilege. Jan also served as an officer of ABA's International Law Section and two ABA committees, the International Anti-Corruption Committee and the International Criminal Law Committee.