John Keller

John Keller is a seasoned trial and appellate lawyer and trusted counselor to companies, executives, and public officials.  Drawing on nearly 20 years of government experience, most recently as the Acting Chief of DOJ’s Public Integrity Section (PIN), John helps clients navigate high-stakes government investigations, congressional inquiries, white-collar prosecutions, and complex enforcement matters.

John spent more than 15 years at the Department of Justice, including over a decade at PIN where he served for 5 years as Principal Deputy and Acting Chief of the Section. He led hundreds of investigations and prosecutions involving criminal abuses of the public trust by federal, state, and local public officials, companies, and corporate officers engaged in procurement, healthcare, securities, and honest services fraud, bribery, money laundering, campaign finance, ballot fraud, national security, and tax offenses.

John has tried 16 federal cases, both as a prosecutor and defense counsel, handled 20 appeals, and supervised dozens of additional trials and hundreds of grand jury investigations nationwide. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Iowa, he personally handled more than one hundred grand jury investigations of both companies and individuals and took 8 cases to trial with a focus on white-collar crime. As an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Middle District of Alabama, he tried 5 cases and obtained 2 acquittals.  John also secured the dismissal of a third case after successfully suppressing evidence critical to the prosecution.

In addition to his active practice, John teaches a constitutional law course at Georgetown University Law Center and was an instructor at DOJ’s National Advocacy Center on Developments in Fraud, Public Corruption, and Election Law; Jury Instructions; and Investigative Techniques. He is a frequent speaker on issues of national security and election law, and has appeared on NPR, CNN, NBC, and the Lawfare Institute.