Terry is the Chairman of the Harris Beach Compensation Committee.
Terry is a former presidentially appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of New York. He represents businesses and individuals across industries in both civil and criminal government investigations which include conducting internal corporate probes and independent monitorships. Terry also litigates on behalf of a diverse array of clients among the Fortune 50 and large privately held companies, including Walmart, Facebook, United Technologies, United/Continental Airlines and the Buffalo Sabres, in such areas as commercial litigation, product liability and personal injury litigation, and government compliance. Terry’s representation of United Technologies resulted in Harris Beach being acknowledged among the Go-To Law Firms® for 2014 in Contracts Litigation as published in Corporate Counsel magazine.
Terry advises clients in complex legal crises involving criminal, civil, regulatory and related public relation matters. He has been engaged by leading companies in the financial, intellectual property, health care, retail, environmental, transportation, life sciences and energy sectors to conduct sensitive regulatory and criminal investigations on international, national and state levels. His knowledge of and relationship with federal, state and local law enforcement enables him to react quickly in order to respond to various crisis situations. Additionally, his federal and state court litigation practice has encompassed such areas as antitrust, trade secrets, environmental contamination, contract disputes, aeronautical, mass tort, and class actions.
Prior to joining Harris Beach, Terry served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of New York from March 2006 to January 2009. In that capacity, he was the chief civil lawyer and criminal prosecutor for the United States and all of its agencies in the 17 county region of the Western District of New York. He oversaw the management of two offices (Buffalo and Rochester) with more than 130 personnel, including 57 attorneys. Specifically, he was responsible for the overall civil affirmative enforcement, civil defense and criminal prosecution of approximately 4,200 cases, encompassing such areas as government compliance/independent monitor, health care fraud, commercial litigation, international trade, white collar fraud, bankruptcy and numerous other civil and criminal matters. During his tenure, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York recovered on behalf of taxpayers over $124 million through both affirmative civil and criminal enforcement of fraud against the U.S. Government.
Prior to his confirmation as the United States Attorney, Terry was a trial lawyer who litigated and tried cases throughout New York state, including the New York City metropolitan area. He represented numerous Fortune 100 and 500 corporations, including, but not limited to, General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, Raytheon, Black & Decker, Hertz and Westinghouse.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS + SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT
- “SBA Issues Loan Necessity Questionnaires to PPP Recipients; Signals Next Step in Loan Compliance Investigations,” Legal Alert, December 2020
- “PPP Loan Forgiveness Applications and Increase in Federal Investigations Pose Risks for Small Businesses,” Legal Alert, December 2020
- “Repeal of Civil Rights Law 50-a Makes Police Disciplinary Records Public Through FOIL,” Legal Alert, June 2020
- “Department Of Justice Issues June 2020 Updated Guidance For Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs,” Legal Alert, June 2020
- “Long-Term Care Investigations: Critical Steps To Mitigate Risk and Protect Your Residents, Staff and Reputation,” Podcast / Advisory, June 2020
- "Department of Justice Creates Task Forces in all 93 U.S. Attorney Districts to Investigate COVID-19 Criminal Activity," Legal Alert, April 2020
- "Cuomo's Proposed Medicaid Reform Yields Insight for New York State Municipalities, Health Care Providers," Legal Alert, January 2020
- "Conducting Effective Internal Investigations," DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar In-House Defense Quarterly, Spring 2019
- "Internal Investigations: Getting It Right Inside Before You Have To Explain it to Others," at the DRI Business Litigation Super Conference, Austin, TX 2019
- "Two Executives and Distributor Charged for Unlawfully Distributing Controlled Substances," Legal Alert, May 2019
- "DOJ Issues Guidelines for Cooperation Credit Specifically as to False Claims Act Matters," Legal Alert, May 2019
- "DOJ Heightens Focus on Corporate Compliance Programs," Legal Advisory, May 2019
- "New DOJ Policy to Curb Duplicative Penalties in White Collar Corporate Crime," Legal Advisory, 2018
- "Conducting Effective Internal Investigations" at the DRI Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Conference, Chicago, 2018
- "Achieving a Culture of Compliance," Buffalo Law Journal, February 2018
- Quoted extensively in "More Regulations Mean More Scrutiny," Buffalo Law Journal, December 2017
- "Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right! Ethical Concerns when Conducting Internal Investigations," at the DRI Annual Meeting, Chicago, 2017
