Laura Perkins is a partner in Cadwalader’s Global Litigation Group and member of the firm’s global Compliance, Investigations & Enforcement practice.
Perkins is a former senior official and prosecutor with the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Her 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.
As a skilled investigator and trial lawyer, Perkins assists corporations, boards of directors, audit committees and senior executives with sensitive internal investigations and proceedings before the DOJ, the Securities and Exchange Commission (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 joining Cadwalader in 2024, Perkins was a partner with another global law firm, where she co-chaired its global investigations, enforcement and compliance U.S. practice group, and served as co-managing partner of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Prior to re-entering private practice in 2017, Perkins 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.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2026 | White Collar, Investigations, Enforcement |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America | 2025 | Compliance, Investigations, Enforcement |
| The Lawdragon 500 Global Leaders in Crisis Management | 2025 | Investigation, Crisis Management, White Collar |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Litigators | 2025 | White Collar, Investigations, Enforcement |
While at the DOJ, Perkins 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. Perkins 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, Perkins 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, Perkins advised DOJ leadership on white-collar criminal cases and policy matters and assisted with responding to Congressional inquiries and investigations.