This profile is part of the NLJ’s 2018 Litigation Department of the Year special package. Find a full list of winners and finalists here.

It might not be pretty, but it’s not bribery. That was essentially the argument Brian Heberlig, co-head of Steptoe & Johnson’s compliance, investigations, trade and enforcement department, advanced in defense of client Richard Ireland, who was accused of 79 counts of bribery and money laundering in a major political corruption case in ­Pennsylvania.