Robert Dugdale

Practice Areas

Partner, White Collar Defense & Government Investigations

Career

With extensive knowledge of the federal system, Robert E. Dugdale is widely recognized as one of the region’s best trial lawyers. He has been the lead attorney or associate counsel on more than 25 trials and has successfully argued in excess of 20 cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Named one of California’s Top 100 Lawyers by the state’s leading legal publication, The Daily Journal, Mr. Dugdale has successfully represented numerous celebrity clients and business leaders in criminal matters and investigations leading to no charges and no publicity about those investigations. As a former federal prosecutor who specializes in criminal and civil government investigations and litigation, internal investigations, and civil fraud investigations, Mr. Dugdale has successfully represented individuals facing criminal investigations for mail and wire fraud, bribery, racketeering offenses, civil rights violations, money laundering, and currency smuggling, as well as corporate clients and individuals facing False Claims Act lawsuits and qui tam matters, investigations related to government contracts and grants, subpoenas and civil investigative demands, whistleblower claims, and parallel criminal and civil investigations.

Mr. Dugdale’s extensive experience in the public sector has also made him a lawyer who public entities frequently seek assistance from as outside counsel to help address their legal problems, and, in this vein, Mr. Dugdale has been retained by cities, counties, state agencies, and even countries to defend and consult on civil rights cases, to oversee compliance with consent decrees, to provide advice regarding conflicts with state and federal law, and to assist in repatriating money looted by kleptocrats.

A diligent and determined advocate for his clients, Mr. Dugdale has also represented businesses and individuals in complex civil litigation involving disputes alleging contractual breaches, financial wrongdoing, civil RICO allegations, breaches of fiduciary duties, the misappropriation of trade secrets, computer crimes, and breaches of privacy.

Before joining Kendall Brill & Kelly, Mr. Dugdale served more than 19 years as a trial attorney and supervisor of some of the most significant cases prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California. He was the Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney for Trials, Integrity, and Professionalism and, prior to that, he was the Chief of the Criminal Division, a position in which he oversaw the work of approximately 200 federal prosecutors in the second largest U.S. Attorney’s Office in the nation.

Mr. Dugdale also received numerous accolades as a federal prosecutor, including being named “California Lawyer of the Year” by California Lawyer magazine and receiving the Attorney General’s Award, the highest honor given to a Department of Justice Employee.

Professional Memberships

Chambers USA, Leading Lawyer in California Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations, 2021—present

Daily Journal, Top White Collar Lawyers, 2020—present

Daily Journal, Top 100 Lawyers in California, 2016

California Lawyer, California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award, 2008

The Best Lawyers in America, Criminal Defense: White-Collar, 2014—present

Two U.S. Department of Justice Director’s Awards, 2007 and 2015

The second highest honor awarded to a Department of Justice employee

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Administrator’s Award, 2002

U.S. Attorney General’s Award, 2000

The highest honor awarded to a Department of Justice employee

Board Member, Federal Bar Association, Los Angeles Chapter, 2018–Present

U.S. Attorney General’s Capital Case Review Committee, member, 2008–2012

U.S. Attorney General Criminal Chiefs Working Group, Ninth Circuit’s Representative, 2014–2015