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After serving as a litigation partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP for 15 years, Aaron became senior counsel at the firm in May 2023. He now does exclusively pro bono work, but for the past 35 years, Aaron’s practice focused on the defense of white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement investigations in the US and overseas. He also conducted internal corporate investigations and advised boards of directors, audit committees and special committees on sensitive matters involving possible corporate misconduct. He was Head of the US Litigation Practice at Freshfields for 10 years, head of the Financial Institutions Litigation Group for six years and head of the firm’s global and US Pro Bono practices for 13 years. For the 20 years before joining Freshfields, Aaron was a partner at Covington & Burlington LLP and at Howard, Darby and Levin LLP. Before entering private practice, Aaron investigated and prosecuted federal criminal cases for seven years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he also served as Chief Appellate Attorney, Chief of the Major Crimes Unit and as the Associate United States Attorney.

Aaron and his wife, Mary Lu Bilek, have been supporting Nazareth Housing for 26 years. Through their generosity, we have been able to serve thousands of New Yorkers. In addition to his commitment to Nazareth Housing, Aaron serves on the Board of Trustees of the New York Blood Center, the Board of Trustees of New York Public Radio (WNYC and WQXR) and has served on the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society, the Board of Visitors of the Northwestern University College of Arts & Sciences, the Boards of the Federal Bar Council and its Foundation, the Board of Trustees of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers and the Board of Trustees of the Packer Collegiate Institute. He also served the City of New York as Commissioner of the Civilian Complaint Review Board. 

Aaron has lived in Brooklyn for 40 years with his wife Mary Lu Bilek, the retired Dean of the City University of New York School of Law and the University of Massachusetts Law School. They have twin sons, Adam and Ben, who are also lawyers in New York.