Andrew GraeveCounsel

Andrew Graeve has worked more than a dozen years for clients facing bet-the-company civil lawsuits and high-stakes criminal charges. With a practice that focuses on complex civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense, he has represented clients in state and federal courts in various jurisdictions across the country. His career has spanned work at national law firms and at the Federal Public Defender's Office. His litigation experience is broad, including work on multi-billion-dollar antitrust cases, multidistrict litigation involving medical products, insurance claims related to environmental cleanup costs, international investigations into fraud, factually complicated tax cases, and criminal charges with advisory sentencing guidelines ranges reaching life in prison.

Civil Practice

Andrew learned how to practice law at high-ranked and well-recognized firms in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans. During that time, he represented clients in a wide variety of factually and legally complex disputes related to antitrust, products liability, securities, environmental, business, and insurance claims, including disputes involving multiple district litigation, class actions, and alternative dispute resolution.

Andrew has been on the winning side of an order granting summary judgment in favor of a client on a multi-billion-dollar antitrust claim and of a trial involving products liability claims against pharmaceutical companies. He has been involved in internal investigations into allegations of corrupt business practices and match-fixing in sports. He has experience representing clients at all stages of civil litigation, and this experience includes overseeing the production and management of millions of documents and electronically stored information (ESI) files, deposing and defending numerous experts and witnesses, drafting dispositive motions on the pleadings and after discovery, arguing on these motions in court, trying cases, and drafting appellate briefs.

Criminal Justice

Andrew came to the firm with a wealth of experience in, and a genuine commitment to, representing individuals against federal criminal investigations and prosecutions. While in D.C. and New Orleans, Andrew represented clients, pro bono, against RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations), drug, and protest related charges. Then, from January 2018 to June 2024, Andrew worked as an Assistant Federal Public Defender representing indigent defendants in federal court, primarily in the Southern District of Iowa.

Andrew has successfully represented clients at every stage of criminal investigations and prosecutions. He has represented clients against criminal charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, tax fraud, health care fraud, social security fraud, civil disorder, criminal conspiracy/RICO, illegal possession of firearms, and distribution of controlled substances. He has the unique experience of having represented a diverse array of clients on charges big and small. Andrew's efforts on behalf of clients have included successful negotiations with prosecutors and, if necessary, achieving successful outcomes on pre-trial motions, at trial, at sentencing, or on appeal.

History

Andrew grew up in Des Moines. He left Des Moines after high school for college at Columbia University. There, he received his B.A. in Economics in 2005, and upon graduation was a recipient of the King's Crown Gold Medal and the Stanley I. Fishel Prize for his extracurricular involvement. After college, Andrew worked as a management consultant for two years in New York City. He then attended Vanderbilt Law School, graduating in 2010. At Vanderbilt Law School, he was a Legal Writing Teaching Assistant and Articles Selection Editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law.

Following law school, Andrew served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Elizabeth Erny Foote, in the Western District of Louisiana. Over the ensuing seven years, he practiced at the law firms Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in Washington, D.C., and Barrasso, Usdin, Kupperman, Freeman, & Sarver in New Orleans, before then joining Wilkinson Stekloff in Washington, D.C. In 2015, he received a “Good Apple” award from Louisiana Appleseed — a nonprofit, public interest law center.

In January 2018, he returned to Des Moines to take a position as an Assistant Federal Public Defender. He worked in the Federal Public Defender's Office for six-and-a-half years.

In July 2024, Andrew joined WLF. Currently, he is a member of the C. Edwin Moore Inns of Court and a member of the Iowa State Bar's Federal Practice Committee. He has presented at a variety of conferences and CLEs on legal topics, such as the attorney-client and work-product privileges in the context of internal investigations; the constitutional, ethical, and practical considerations for witness interviews; the prosecution's obligations under Brady and Giglio; and the social and economic impact of prior convictions on individuals and communities.

Publications

The Battle Over the Sentencing Commission's Authority to Describe What is 'Extraordinary and Compelling', The Iowa Lawyer, March 2024, and reprinted in the Journal of the Missouri Bar, May 2024

When Former Employees Are Fact Witnesses: A Guide to the Ethical Landscape, ABA Commercial & Business Newsletter, Spring 2015

Email: Andrew Graeve
Direct: 515.666.1926
Office: 515.244.3100
Fax: 515.288.0407
Address:
2600 Grand Avenue, Ste. 450
Des Moines, Iowa 50312
Assistant:
Maura McNally-Cavanagh
Direct: 515.564.5275

Education

Legal: Vanderbilt Law School, J.D., 2010
Undergraduate: Columbia University, B.A., Economics, 2005

Practice Areas

Litigation: Complex Civil Litigation, White Collar Criminal Defense, Trial Practice, Appeals, Internal Investigations

Admitted to Practice

States: Iowa, New York, District of Columbia, Louisiana

Federal Courts

U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit

2600 Grand Avenue, Ste. 450, Des Moines, Iowa 50312 | Phone: 515.244.3100