Omar Y. McNeill is a partner in the White Collar Litigation and Investigations Practice Group of Pepper Hamilton LLP, resident in the Wilmington office.
Prior to joining the firm Mr. McNeill was partner and general counsel at Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, LLP and also general counsel and secretary of Freeh Group International Solutions, LLC. He also served as the Bank of America global card services legal executive, in Wilmington, where he was responsible for overseeing the Bank of America Global Card Services Legal Department, with staff in the United States, Europe and Canada. In that role, he also provided strategic guidance to the business’ senior leadership team on myriad matters impacting the company’s operations in the United States and abroad.
Prior to joining Bank of America in 2006 (in connection with a merger), Mr. McNeill was employed by MBNA America Bank, N.A., where he held positions of senior executive vice president and deputy general counsel, responsible for managing the company’s law division and, prior to that, senior executive vice president and chief litigation counsel, responsible for managing the efforts of the Litigation and Employment Practices Group within the law division. Before joining MBNA in 1997, Mr. McNeill practiced with the law firm of Young, Conaway, Stargatt and Taylor in Wilmington, focusing on litigation and other matters.
Over the course of his career, Mr. McNeill has counseled clients on compliance, regulatory, legislative and risk mitigation matters, as well as numerous legal issues concerning, among other things, consumer lending, commercial transactions, complex litigation, labor and employment, and corporate governance. Additionally, Mr. McNeill has represented companies in connection with audits, investigations and complaints initiated by governmental bodies.
Most recently, during his practice with Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, Mr. McNeill led:
- the compliance review into the intercollegiate athletics program at a preeminent university to provide an independent assessment of its athletic compliance program and related-investigative procedures. In addition to providing observations and recommendations on how best to improve the athletic compliance department structure, policies and procedures, the services included providing guidance for monitoring and investigating incidents related to high-profile student-athletes.
- the day-to-day independent, internal investigation of recently publicized allegations of sexual abuse at the facilities of a major university and the alleged failure of the university’s personnel to report such sexual abuse to appropriate police and government authorities. The report generated from the investigation also provided recommendations for the university to take actions to attempt to ensure that those and similar failures do not occur again.
- teams in the U.S. and Europe engaged by an independent compliance monitor to a European multinational automobile manufacturer with over 200,000 employees around the world and operations in over 100 countries. The teams assessed compliance programs with a specific focus on ensuring the company’s operations remained compliant with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Mr. McNeill serves on the Delaware Community Foundation, the Delaware Leadership Foundation and the Board of Bar Examiners of the Delaware Supreme Court. His past professional and community involvement includes, among other activities: the Delaware State Bar Association Professional Guidance Committee, the Board on Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Delaware, the board of advisors of Delaware Youth for Christ, Inc., Perinatal Association of Delaware Advisory Board, Delaware Guidance Services for Children and Youth board member, Eighth Street Community Development Corp. board member, and the board of trustees of the Episcopal Academy. He also is a youth coach for the Wilmington Lacrosse Association.
