Cadwalader Enhances Global Investigations, Regulatory Enforcement Capabilities

Cadwalader has added Laura Perkins, one of the world’s foremost FCPA lawyers and a skilled investigator and trial attorney, as a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

“Growing our Compliance, Investigations & Enforcement practice is a strategic priority for our firm,” said Cadwalader Managing Partner Pat Quinn. “Welcoming Laura as part of our Global Litigation team is going to be of tremendous value to our clients as their needs evolve.”

Martin Weinstein, head of Cadwalader’s global Compliance, Investigations & Enforcement practice, added “I’ve had the privilege of knowing and working with Laura for many years. She deepens a formidable bench of Cadwalader lawyers who have a powerful blend of government and private practice experience. Laura will expand our top-ranked practice’s ability to guide clients through increasingly complex investigations and regulatory scrutiny.”

Laura has a wealth of experience from her career in both private practice and government service. She joins Cadwalader from another major law firm, where she co-chaired its global investigations, enforcement and compliance U.S. practice group and was the co-managing partner of its Washington, D.C. office. Laura’s practice focuses on high-stakes government and internal investigations, crisis management, white collar criminal defense and cross-border compliance counseling, risk assessments and due diligence, and national security and sanctions issues. She assists corporations, boards of directors, audit committees and senior executives with sensitive internal investigations and proceedings before the DOJ, the SEC and other U.S. and international agencies, with a particular focus on FCPA/anti-corruption, financial fraud, sanctions violations, money laundering and healthcare fraud.

Prior to entering private practice, Laura spent nearly 10 years at the DOJ, most recently serving as Assistant Chief of the FCPA Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General. While at the DOJ, Laura supervised, prosecuted and tried some of the largest individual and corporate FCPA cases in the U.S. and was involved in the development of the FCPA Pilot Program and the drafting of the FCPA Resource Guide. Laura also oversaw nearly a dozen independent compliance monitors and served as a U.S. Delegate to the OECD’s Working Group on Bribery.

In addition to FCPA cases, Laura successfully investigated and prosecuted complex financial fraud cases, healthcare fraud cases and money-laundering cases while at the DOJ. In her role as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, Laura advised DOJ leadership on white-collar criminal cases and policy matters and assisted with responding to Congressional inquiries and investigations.

She is recognized by Chambers USA and Chambers Global as a leading FCPA attorney and by The Legal 500 U.S. as a leading white-collar attorney, and she was been recognized by Global Investigations Review as one of the top 100 “women in investigations.” Laura writes and speaks frequently on trends and topics in litigation, and serves as an officer on the International Bar Association’s Business Crimes Committee.

Laura is the latest strategic partner addition to Cadwalader’s Compliance, Investigations & Enforcement practice, which is a key component of the firm’s Global Litigation offering. In addition to Martin Weinstein, since 2023 the firm has added leading FCPA practitioner Jeffrey Clark (who joined the firm with Martin and is also resident in D.C.), former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Gina Castellano, and civil and criminal litigator Tom Grodecki in London.

“I’m excited to join Cadwalader,” said Laura. “As government agencies around the globe increase their enforcement efforts, I believe our team is uniquely positioned to successfully navigate our clients through challenging situations and protect their interests.”