Bill Mateja

Practice Areas

Bill Mateja is a partner in the White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Dallas office.

Unlike many attorneys, Bill does not expect repeat business. Clients he works with are usually facing the kinds of high-stakes, high-stress problems that are not likely to recur – a financial services company under SEC investigation, a hospital accused of Medicare fraud or a C-suite executive charged with fraud or insider trading. These clients turn to Bill to address and resolve the issues, while minimizing the impact to their businesses and reputations.

Bill is an established white collar trial lawyer with a particular focus on healthcare fraud and securities enforcement. A former prosecutor at the highest levels of the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bill was responsible for all the Department’s white collar operations, as well as the day-to-day workings of its corporate fraud task force. He also served as Special Counsel for Health Care fraud overseeing all of the Department’s healthcare fraud enforcement. This experience makes him unusually adept at handling the collateral consequences of white collar matters, which can occur in any of four separate legal forums – criminal, civil, administrative and regulatory – sometimes all at once.

Bill understands each of these forums, and he regularly demonstrates that “the best defense is a good prosecutor.” He maintains strong relationships in U.S. Attorney’s Offices around the country, as well as at the SEC and various state and federal enforcement agencies nationwide. The benefit to clients is that Bill not only thinks like a prosecutor, but at times, he is a contemporary to the prosecutor or investigating attorney assigned to his case. His goal in every matter is to see that business continues with the least amount of disruption, and that each individual receives not only an aggressive defense, but one that is acceptable and comfortable for the client.

Government Experience:

Senior Counsel to Deputy Attorneys General, Larry Thompson and James Comey, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice (Washington, D.C., 2003-2004)

Point Person, President George W. Bush’s Corporate Fraud Task Force

DOJ Special Counsel for Health Care Fraud

National oversight over and coordination of the Department of Justice’s: (1) white collar functions, including healthcare enforcement; (2) relationship with the U.S. Sentencing Commission and matters relating to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines; and (3) efforts to combat violent crime, including oversight over the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Project Safe Neighborhoods

Counsel to the Director, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Department of Justice (Washington, D.C., 2002-2003)

Legal Evaluator, Executive Office of U.S. Attorney’s Evaluation and Review Staff (2000-2004) Assistant U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Texas, U.S. Department of Justice (1991-2004)

Professional Memberships

President-Elect, Dallas Bar Association, 2023

Member, Texas Bar College, 2007-2020

Adjunct Professor, Texas Tech School of Law, 1995-2002, 2006-2012

Member, American Bar Association, 1986-2000, 2005-present

Co-Chair, American Bar Association, North Texas-Oklahoma Subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Section’s White Collar Crime Committee, American Bar Association, 2006-present

Member, Criminal Justice Section Book Board, American Bar Association, 2013-present

Member, Criminal Justice Section Upjohn Working Group, American Bar Association, 2008, 2009

Member, Criminal Justice Section Parallel Proceedings Task Force, American Bar Association, 2010-2012

Member, Criminal Justice Section, American Bar Association, 2005-present

Texas Delegate, Young Lawyers Division, American Bar Association, 1996-1999

Member, American Health Lawyers Association, 2016-present

Member, Dallas Bar Association, 1986-1991, 2005-present

Director, Board of Directors, Dallas Bar Association, 2015–present

Co-Chair, 2015 Equal Access to Justice Campaign,

Chair, Trial Skills Section, 2011-2012; Immediate Past-Chair 2013-2014; Vice Chair, Dallas Bar Association, 2009-2010

Director, Dallas Bar Association, 2007-present

Secretary-Treasurer, Dallas Bar Association, 2009-2010

Co-Chair, Bench Bar Committee, Dallas Bar Association, 2008

Member, Dallas Bar Foundation, 2006­-present

Member, Dallas Young Lawyers Foundation, 2005-­present

Member, Lubbock County Bar Association, 1991­-2004

Member, Lubbock County Defense Lawyers Association, 2010-present

Member, Health Care Compliance Association, 2010-present

Member, National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, 1995-­2004

Member, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 2005-present

Vice Chair, White Collar Crime Committee, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 2006-2008

Member, Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, 2005-present

Member, Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct Committee, 2006-2009

Member, Texas Bar Foundation, 1997-present

Co-Chair, Dallas Nominating Committee, Texas Bar Foundation, 2014-2015

Member, Board of Trustees, Texas Bar Foundation, 1997-1998

Fellow and Sustaining Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation, 1997-present

Member, Texas Young Lawyers Association, 1986-2000

Texas Young Lawyers Association, President, 1997-1998; Immediate Past President, 1998-1999; President Elect, 1996- -1997

Chair, Liberty Bell Committee, Texas Young Lawyers Association, 2000-2001

Chair, Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas Committee, Texas Young Lawyers Association, 1999-2000

Member, Board of Directors, Texas Young Lawyers Association, 1995-1999

Regional Coordinator for Disaster Legal Services, Texas Young Lawyers Association, 1995-1999

Trustee, Texas Tech Law School Foundation, 2016-present