PROFESSIONALS

Luis A. Reyes

Partner / Austin, TX

P   ‭512.370.1800‬
E   lreyes@ashcroftlawfirm.com
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Luis A. Reyes is a shareholder in Ashcroft’s Austin office.

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He joined the Firm in 2011 after over a decade of public service at the White House, the Department of Justice and other federal and state agencies. His practice includes assisting clients in a wide range of areas including Special Matters, Litigation, Government Investigations (Civil, Criminal & Congressional), Internal Investigations, International Risk & Investigations, Crisis Response, Regulatory Compliance, and Remediation.

Mr. Reyes has deep experience in both public service and private practice. His extensive public service in high-ranking government positions includes serving as a senior White House official and presidentially commissioned Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States; senior positions at the United States Department of Justice, including Deputy Associate Attorney General; Chief of Staff to the Associate Attorney General; and, as a chief legal counsel to the heads of both the Civil and Civil Rights Divisions.  Mr. Reyes also served as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel for the federal law enforcement agency charged with rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the reconstruction of Iraq, and, earlier in his career, as a trial attorney and Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas.

In private practice, Mr. Reyes leads a robust practice that involves providing legal counsel to a wide range of companies and individuals, involving numerous settings, industries and countries around the world.  In terms of representative matters, Mr. Reyes has provided strategic counsel and successful representation to Fortune 100 companies regarding litigation and/or regulatory matters involving the United States government (including the Departments of Justice, Treasury, State and Defense); he has successfully lead internal investigations and provided key recommendations to both private and public companies on a wide array of critical issues; he has provided strategic advice and recommendations to both private and public companies on matters of corporate structure,  governance and compliance; represented publicly held companies in federal litigation;  advised companies on various anti-trust matters pending before the United States Department Antitrust Division leading to ultimate clearance for mergers; successfully resolved civil litigation in Federal court involving complex trademark disputes; successfully represented and played a lead role in an internal investigation at the request of a foreign state relating to compliance with international anti-money laundering standards; lead an internal review (with recommendations) for an international academic institution that ultimately led to recognition of its compliance practices as best in class; provided legal counsel to one of the world’s largest music production companies on a variety domestic and international regulatory matters; provided advice to the Board of Directors of an international company on crisis response matters throughout the COV-19 pandemic. Most recently, Mr. Reyes led the representation of an individual charged in a complex federal criminal securities fraud matter where he ultimately obtained a complete dismissal of the indictment for his client.

Mr. Reyes continues to litigate, lead internal investigations, and advise multinational organizations regarding compliance with a large range of regulatory matters including issues involving the FCPA, FATCA, OFAC, SOX, ITAR, the FAR and the Bank Secrecy Act (Anti- Money Laundering). Some of his past work has included leading a comprehensive compliance review for a major United States publicly held company with an annual gross of over $6 billion. Mr. Reyes also recently assisted in successfully managing a voluntary monitor project for an international financial institution that required monitoring AML compliance programs; testing account surveillance system; and making recommendations. Mr. Reyes has effectively represented this client before the U.S. Departments of Justice and the U.S. Department of Treasury. Likewise, Mr. Reyes has played lead roles in similar efforts involving foreign institutions or, in some cases states, that require reviews of their practices in order to be in compliance with United States laws.

From 2006 to 2009, Mr. Reyes held senior positions at the White House. In 2008 he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as Deputy Assistant to the President and Acting Assistant to the President in charge of the Office of Presidential Personnel, serving as chief advisor to the President on all senior human capital matters administration wide. In 2006, President Bush appointed him to be Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, with responsibility over the legal, national security, and international affairs portfolio, which included the Departments of Justice, Defense, State, Homeland Security, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the United States Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In the area of anti-corruption, from 2009 to January 2011, Mr. Reyes served as General Counsel for the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (“SIGIR”) – the independent federal law enforcement agency charged with rooting out waste, fraud and abuse of the more than $50 billion in U.S. funds appropriated for reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Mr. Reyes played a key role in investigations and prosecutions of violations of the False Claims Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and major fraud. SIGIR’s oversight has returned over $1 billion to the U.S. Government.

Earlier in his career, from 2001 to 2006 Mr. Reyes served in various high-ranking positions at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington. From 2005 -2006, Mr. Reyes was Deputy Associate Attorney General and Chief of Staff to Associate Attorney General of the United States. In that role he assisted in the management of the civil and programmatic components of the Department with a budget of over $3 billion.  During that time Mr. Reyes provided oversight and counsel on high value litigation efforts emanating from the Civil Division, Antitrust and Tax Divisions, requiring approval of the Associate Attorney General, the third highest ranking official in the Department of Justice.  Mr. Reyes also played a significant role in special projects, such as the development of the future National Security Division. Prior to that, Mr. Reyes served as Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division (2003-2005) where he was chief counsel to the Assistant Attorney General on issues related to anti-human trafficking efforts, among other division issues. From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Reyes was Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division where he provided counsel to the head of the division and led the supervision over various Division litigation efforts, including the U.S. government litigation versus the tobacco industry and several civil defensive matters. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Reyes served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas, handling a robust civil litigation practice at the trial and appellate levels in both state and federal court.

Mr. Reyes has been granted numerous high-level security clearances after successfully passing requisite extensive FBI background checks multiple times.

  • Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States, The White House
  • Special Assistant to the President of the United States, The White House
  • General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer, Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (“SIGIR”)
  • Deputy Associate Attorney General, United States Department of Justice
  • Chief of Staff to the Associate Attorney General, United States Department of Justice
  • Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, United States Department of Justice
  • Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice
  • Assistant Attorney General, State of Texas
  • J.D., The University of Texas School of Law
  • B.A., The University of Texas
  • Texas
  • United State Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • United States District Court, Washington, D.C.
  • United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas
  • United States District Court, Western District of Texas
  • United States District Court, Northern District of Texas
  • United States District Court, Southern District of Texas