Brandon Essig Speaks to Students at the University of Alabama School of Law

March 19, 2019

Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC partner Brandon Essig spoke to law students in a corporate compliance course at the University of Alabama on March 4. The class is taught by Pamela Pierson, a longtime criminal law professor at Alabama who focuses on white-collar crime.

Essig spoke to the class alongside an in-house counsel at a large defense contractor. They covered topics related to the role of in-house and outside lawyers in conducting an internal investigation. Essig’s focus was on the need for outside counsel to understand the client’s culture and business and the basic law that covers such investigations. The presentation placed a particular emphasis on attorney-client privilege and ethical considerations in internal investigations.

“It’s always an honor to speak to future leaders in the legal industry,” said Essig. “When it comes to internal investigations and practicing law, it’s important for students to understand a real-world perspective alongside what they learn in the classroom, and I’m happy to offer that whenever I can.”

Essig focuses his practice on white-collar criminal defense, corporate investigations, NCAA compliance and investigations, and general litigation. He joined Lightfoot after nearly eight years as a federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice in the Middle District of Alabama where he tried multiple felony jury trials each year. Prior to his time at the DOJ, Essig was a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps where he worked as a prosecutor and deployed with an infantry unit to Fallujah, Iraq