Paul Schoeman is a partner in the litigation department, practicing primarily in the areas of white collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation. He originally joined the firm in 2003 and left in 2007 to serve as the Chief Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. He rejoined the firm in 2009.

As Chief Assistant, Mr. Schoeman supervised the office’s Criminal and Civil Divisions and personally handled several high profile cases. He led the team of prosecutors who secured convictions at trial of all defendants in the “Squawk Box” case, which involved defendants from major Wall Street firms who profited from a scheme to front run confidential block order information. In addition, he also led the team that reached a $300 million settlement in favor of the government in a qui tam action involving misbranded medical test kits. Mr. Schoeman also argued several appeals in Second Circuit.

While at Kramer Levin, Mr. Schoeman won an acquittal on all charges at the trial of Clarence Norman, Jr., the former Deputy Speaker of the New York State Assembly. He was also a member of the trial team that represented Michael Eisner, the former CEO of the Walt Disney Company, in the successful defense in Delaware Chancery Court and on appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court of a derivative action involving the hiring and firing of Michael Ovitz. Additionally, Mr. Schoeman represented clients in a variety of major criminal matters, including cases involving insider trading, market manipulation and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He has conducted numerous corporate internal investigations and represented corporate and individual clients in investigations conducted by the SEC and the New York State Attorney General. He also represented clients in various complex civil litigations.

Before joining Kramer Levin in 2003, Mr. Schoeman previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney for five years, first as a line assistant and subsequently as Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section. He investigated and prosecuted some of the most significant organized crime cases in the office, including United States v. Aparo, et al., which charged 45 members and associates of the five New York-based organized crime families with racketeering, murder, and related crimes, and led to a second federal conviction of Genovese family boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante. Mr. Schoeman also prosecuted United States v. Cattagio, et al., a 55-defendant stock fraud case involving more than $190 million in losses to investors. He also represented the United States as lead counsel in a wide variety of other federal criminal prosecutions and conducted numerous jury trials involving securities fraud, labor racketeering, tax evasion, identity theft and narcotics trafficking. He received a 2003 Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney.

He is an adjunct professor at Cardozo Law School, where he teaches White Collar Crime, and speaks frequently at conferences on topics of criminal law and white collar defense.

J.D., cum laude, Harvard Law School, 1995

• Harvard Criminal Justice Institute, Student Attorney
• Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project, Board Member
• Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Law Review, Executive Editor

A.B., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Princeton University, 1991

Honorable Edward R. Korman, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, 1995 - 1996

New York, 1996

U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York

Teaching
Adjunct professor, Cardozo Law School