Bio

Richard Roeder heads the German Investigations & Enforcement, Global Trade & Investment and White-Collar Defense practices and is a member of the Environmental, Social & Governance practice group. He assists clients in navigating the ever-changing and increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape with a focus on sanctions-, export controls-, ESG-/supply chain-, AML- and ABC-compliance. Richard has substantive experience with conducting cross-border white collar investigations, specifically in the context of multi-jurisdictional investigations related to the FCPA, anti-money laundering, fraud, compliance violations, whistleblower complaints, export/import regulations, sanctions violations, tax, technical compliance among other legal and regulatory issues. Legal 500 Germany / The Legal 500 EMEA recommend Richard in the category Foreign Trade Law and highlight that he “(…) is a key contact for economic and financial sanctions as well as export control issues.” One market participant says he is “(…) very responsive. Thinks ahead and provides business-related information on innovations. Makes binding, practical statements.” He has published widely, including in the Corporate Compliance Law Journal (CCZ) and is regularly invited to comment on global trade and compliance issues, including recently on regulatory developments in China and the consequences of the Ukraine crisis. He is co-author of “U.S., EU, and UN Sanctions: Navigating the Divide for International Business” (2019) and co-author of the International Comparative Legal Guide to Sanctions (2022). He is also the author of Foreign Mining Investment Law (2016), which includes CSR considerations that are now often referred to as ESG-related. Before joining Willkie, he was a scholarship holder of what is now known as the Mercator Fellowship on International Affairs and worked for the Federal Ministry of Economics in Berlin, the German Foreign Service in Caracas, Venezuela, the European Union in Damascus, Syria and the United Nations Development Program in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2018, Richard worked in Washington, D.C. where he assisted clients in overcoming the challenges arising from the divergence between US and EU economic and financial sanctions. Most recently, he worked as of counsel in the International Trade, White Collar Defense & Investigation and ESG practice groups at a renowned US law firm. He also is regularly invited to speak on and contribute to compliance-related matters, including most recently for the Financial Crime Academy, where his team created the Certificate Course on Sanctions & Export Control Compliance. Richard is a member of the German Institute for Compliance e.V. (DICO) and Ethics & Compliance Switzerland. Richard speaks German, English, Spanish, and French.