Mayer Brown announced today that Sonali D. Patel has joined the firm as a partner in its Global Investigations & White Collar Defense practice. Sonali previously served as assistant chief of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Unit of the Department of Justice. She is only the second woman of color ever to hold a leadership position in the Unit. Sonali will reside in the firm’s Washington DC office.
Prior to being appointed as assistant chief, Sonali served as a trial attorney within the FCPA unit and was previously an assistant United States attorney for the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Sonali brings extensive experience handling complex cross-border investigations, including those involving foreign corruption, fraud, money laundering, and national security matters. While at DOJ, she led more than 50 FCPA-related investigations, including the agency’s PDVSA cases, where 29 defendants were charged in an international money laundering scheme involving bribes made to Venezuela’s state-owned energy company, Petróleos de Venezuela. During her time in the FCPA unit, Sonali also worked on some of unit’s most significant individual prosecutions.
“Sonali is a strategic and highly respected FCPA litigator whose arrival bolsters our award winning investigations practice,” said Jason Linder, co-chair of Mayer Brown’s Global Investigations & White Collar Defense practice. “With corporate enforcement increasing, our clients will be well served by her experience leading high-stakes international matters at the DOJ and US Attorney’s Office.”
“Clients today operate in a world where they face scrutiny from enforcement authorities around the globe,“ Sonali said. “My years at the FCPA unit afforded me an insider’s understanding of how the DOJ and foreign authorities approach enforcement matters. I look forward to applying my experience to help clients in the US and abroad navigate these complex issues.”
Andrew Olmem, managing partner of Mayer Brown’s Washington DC office, said, “High-profile enforcement and litigation work is a core focus of the DC office, which handles some of the most complex matters in the country. Sonali is an outstanding addition to our team.”
Other recent government laterals to join the Washington DC office include Ambassador John Sullivan; Kimberly Hamm, former chief counsel to US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy; Jonathan Becker, former chief of staff to Senator Amy Klobuchar; former Department of Justice official Adam Hickey; and former chief of the SEC’s Office of Small Business Policy Jennifer Zepralka.
