Jessica Lee is a partner in the Firm’s Litigation & Arbitration Practice Group.

Jess acts for both corporate and individual claimants and defendants in complex and high value commercial litigation with particular experience in civil fraud and asset recovery actions, company and shareholder disputes, and crypto and blockchain matters. Jess was named a Rising Star for civil fraud in The Legal 500 2023 having acted on a number of significant civil fraud matters, many of which have also involved advising on freezing, proprietary, and disclosure injunctions. Jess is also part of Brown Rudnick’s Supervising Solicitors team and having acted  on obtaining and executing multiple search, delivery up and imaging orders. Jess has also advised on significant investigations and compliance matters including investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Serious Fraud Office. 

In The Legal 500 2023, Jess is described as having "a keen eye for detail, superb litigation knowledge and experience, and always the brightest attitude and mode of communication." She is also a recommended lawyer in The Legal 500 2023 in the categories of Commercial Litigation and Banking Litigation: Investment & Retail. Jess was also named as a future leader in commercial litigation by Who’s Who Legal in 2022.

Jess has a particular interest in digital asset disputes and is regularly invited to speak and write on issues including crypto fraud and blockchain disputes and regulation. 

Jess is a keen advocate for diversity and social mobility; she is part of the leadership team for the Firm’s Women’s Initiative and has mentored younger lawyers and law students, including on the IntoUniversity programme.

Prior to joining Brown Rudnick, Jess was an associate at Baker & McKenzie where she also trained. Jess has undertaken a number of client secondments including a major international telecoms provider and a leading global financial institution.

Meredith Fitzpatrick is a Director for Cryptocurrency Investigations and Compliance based in FRA’s Washington, DC office. Prior to joining FRA, Meredith was a Special Agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for seven years. She is a subject matter expert in the investigation of cryptocurrency enabled money laundering and computer intrusion incidents, including Russian state sponsored computer intrusions, non-compliant cryptocurrency exchanges, theft of Personally Identifiable Information and Intellectual Property, ransomware, dark-web marketplaces, and Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes. Meredith has extensive experience working multinational investigations and collaborating with foreign intelligence services and law enforcement agencies to solve complex investigative issues.

As a member of the FBI’s Virtual Currency Response Team, she provided subject matter expertise for the FBI’s largest cryptocurrency money laundering cases and hands-on tracing training to FBI agents, prosecutors, and law enforcement partners. Meredith led investigations into non-compliant cryptocurrency exchanges and liaised with numerous blockchain analysis companies, cryptocurrency exchanges, and mining pools.

Meredith has deep experience tracing complex cryptocurrency money laundering typologies using open source and commercial blockchain analysis tools including Chainalysis, TRM, and CipherTrace. She holds multiple certifications for blockchain analysis tools including Chainalysis Reactor Certification (CRC), Chainalysis Ethereum Investigations Certification (CEIC), TRM Crypto Fundamentals Certification (TRM-CFC), TRM Certified Investigator (TRM-CI), TRM Advanced Crypto Investigator (TRM-ACI). She also holds the GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC), GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH), GIAC Certified Forensic Examiner (GCFE) certifications from the SANS Institute.

At FRA, Meredith will use her investigative experience and deep ties in the crypto and blockchain intelligence industries to develop solutions that support organizations resolving issues associated with cryptocurrency and emerging financial technology. Meredith has a proven track record of excellence deriving actionable intelligence from complex data sets and her addition takes FRA’s forensic accounting expertise into the cryptocurrency sector.

Prior to the FBI, Meredith worked at boutique Information Technology firm, Sotera Defence Solutions, who serviced Intelligence Community federal government clients. Prior to this, she worked at Computer Sciences Corporation and Booz Allen Hamilton, a management and IT consulting firm. Meredith graduated from Williams College, with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics & Statistics.

Alan Cohn counsels clients on a range of blockchain- and cryptocurrency-related issues, from regulatory best practices for cryptocurrency companies to legal issues associated with novel uses of blockchain technology. In addition to co-leading Steptoe's Blockchain & Cryptocurrency practice, Alan also co-leads the firm's National and Homeland Security practice, and has experience across homeland security, emergency management, and emergency response services at the federal and local level. 

Blockchain & Cryptocurrency

Alan represents a variety of different types of entities focusing on blockchain and cryptocurrency, from cryptocurrency trading platforms to investment funds to startups developing new blockchain protocols, as well as corporations interested in exploring potential applications of blockchain technology. Alan helped found Steptoe's Blockchain and Cryptocurrency practice and serves as its co-chair. Alan also serves as counsel to the Blockchain Alliance, a public-private forum established by a broad coalition of companies and organizations to help combat criminal activity on the blockchain, and advises companies and investors concerning a range of issues associated with the adoption and use of blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Alan is ranked among the top US lawyers in Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies by Chambers USA (2019-2022), where he is noted for his "tremendous depth of expertise in regulatory issues facing blockchain platforms and cryptocurrencies." He is also recognized as an MVP in FinTech by Law360 (2019), a trailblazer in both Cryptocurrency, Blockchain & FinTech (2018) and Cybersecurity (2017) by National Law Journal and as a Next Generation Lawyer in Cyber Law by The Legal 500 (2017-2019). Alan brings a unique perspective, focusing on the intersection of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology with cybersecurity and cybercrime, and advising clients on national security and emerging technology issues.  

National and Homeland Security

Before joining Steptoe, Alan served as a career official in senior policy positions at The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for almost a decade, during both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.  Most recently, he served as the Assistant Secretary for Strategy, Planning, Analysis & Risk and second-in-charge overall of the DHS Office of Policy during the second term of the Obama Administration. Among a variety of responsibilities, Alan established the cyber policy office within the DHS Office of Policy, represented DHS on the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) and related national security review processes for foreign investments, and architected and helped implement DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson's Unity of Effort Initiative, a major corporate-level DHS management reform effort. Alan also oversaw emergency preparedness and response policy for the DHS Office of Policy, and participated in and helped run a variety of scenario planning and tabletop exercise activities at DHS.

Mr. Janczewski has led some of the most important cryptocurrency-related criminal investigations including “Welcome to Video”, a worldwide takedown of the largest marketplace for child exploitation material, which resulted in the rescue of 25 children. He has also investigated multiple cryptocurrency exchange hacks attributed to North Korea, resulting in charges against two Chinese cybercriminals for laundering over $100 million in crypto, as well as global efforts to disrupt Hamas, Al Qaeda, and ISIS cryptocurrency terrorist financing networks.