Darren LaVerne

As a litigator with extensive trial and advocacy experience, Darren has also represented clients in complex civil proceedings between private litigants, including those involving defamation, breach of contract, commercial bribery and securities laws issues. He has litigated cases in courts around the country, as well as in arbitral forums in the United States and abroad. 

Darren draws on his prior experience as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where, from 2010 to 2016, he led many successful criminal prosecutions involving wire fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud, bribery, money laundering, racketeering, crimes of violence, environmental crimes and other offenses. For more than three years, he was part of the core team of prosecutors who built and charged the case against more than 40 FIFA soccer officials and sports marketing executives, one of the most significant and complex prosecutions in the history of the office. While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Darren conducted several jury trials, all of which resulted in convictions, including a monthlong racketeering trial in which he served as lead counsel. 

Darren has authored articles in the New York Law Journal and other publications on, among other issues, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the extraterritorial reach of U.S. law and the need for reform of the federal criminal discovery rules. 

During his years at Kramer Levin, Darren has been actively involved in pro bono matters. From 2006 to 2010, he was part of the Kramer Levin team representing several members of a Muslim minority group from western China who were wrongfully imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. Darren traveled to Guantanamo Bay four times during the course of the representation, which ultimately resulted in the release by the U.S. government of all of the firm’s clients. More recently, Darren has represented Everytown for Gun Safety, a leading organization dedicated to advocating for responsible gun laws and reducing gun violence. In that capacity, he has led a Kramer Levin team that has filed amicus curiae briefs on Everytown’s behalf in courts around the country, and has represented the family of a murder victim seeking information about the firearm used in the crime. Darren has also represented the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on issues relating to the construction of the St. Nicholas National Shrine at the World Trade Center and related matters.

Darren has served as a member of the Criminal Justice Act Panel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and as pro bono co-counsel to the Legal Aid Society, representing indigent clients in criminal matters. He has twice been awarded the Pro Bono Publico Award by Legal Aid for his efforts, in the course of which he has briefed and argued cases in the Appellate Division and Court of Appeals, New York State’s highest court. From 2017 to 2019, Darren led a Kramer Levin team working with Brooklyn Defender Services to advocate for noncash bail for indigent clients in the Kings County courts. The team was awarded the Marvin Frankel Pro Bono Award at Kramer Levin and the New York State Bar Association’s Pro Bono Service Award.

Darren is a member of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers. He served as a board member for the City Bar Fund and serves for the Fund for Modern Courts.