Joel Athey is a partner at Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey LLP. Joel has extensive experience representing clients in both federal and state court in the areas of white collar criminal defense, internal corporate investigations, and complex commercial litigation.

213.533.7037 jathey@corbfitzlaw.com

In the area of white-collar criminal defense, Joel has represented individuals and corporations in cases involving allegations of: financial and accounting fraud, public corruption, violation of federal and state environmental regulations, health care fraud, violation of banking and insurance regulations, wrongful death, violation of Department of Education regulations, and criminal antitrust violations. Joel's trial experience includes a federal criminal trial that resulted in acquittal on all counts for the individual and corporate defendants accused of government-procurement fraud.

Joel also represents companies in connection with internal, corporate investigations in response to allegations of wrongdoing against the company or one of its employees. In this capacity, he has been able to effectively demonstrate to the prosecutors that his corporate clients did not engage in illegal conduct and thereby head off further investigation or prosecution.

Joel's civil litigation experience in federal and state courts includes matters involving breach of contract disputes, intellectual property suits, appeals of government contract terminations, and civil False Claims Act allegations. He has successfully represented healthcare providers, movie production companies, aerospace firms, and professional athletes in a variety of complex matters.

Joel graduated from Columbia Law School in 1999, where he also served as Executive Editor of the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering summa cum laude from Rutgers University in 1994. Before joining Corbin & Fitzgerald, Joel was a senior associate with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Los Angeles, as a member of the Business Crimes and Investigations practice group, practicing in the areas of white-collar criminal defense and complex commercial litigation.

Joel is a Member of the Bar of the State of California and New York and the Bars of United States District Courts for the Central and Eastern Districts of California. He is also a member of the White Collar Crime Committee of the American Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association.

In 2002, Joel co-authored an article that was later published as the cover article in Los Angeles Lawyer magazine, entitled "Into The Fifth Dimension", describing strategies for handling civil litigation in light of parallel criminal proceedings.