WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Jenner & Block
LLP today announced that former Associate Attorney General
Thomas J. Perrelli has re-joined the
firm as a partner in its Washington,
DC office. As the third highest-ranking official at
the United States Department of Justice from 2009 until his
departure in March, Mr. Perrelli was responsible for the
Department's Civil, Antitrust, Civil Rights, Environment and
Natural Resources and Tax Divisions, the United States Trustee
Program, the Office of Justice Programs and the Office on Violence
Against Women, among others.
Mr. Perrelli will lead Jenner & Block's newly formed
Government Controversies and Public Policy Litigation practice
group, which will focus on advising clients and their leaders on
the most intractable problems at the intersection of law, law
enforcement and government regulation. The practice group
will draw on Jenner & Block's strength and depth as a premier
litigation firm and its nationally known white collar practice to
provide a full suite of services. This will include internal
investigations and crisis management for businesses facing problems
that draw the attention of the federal civil and criminal law
enforcement authorities, government regulators, Congress, state
legislators and the media.
"We are thrilled that Tom is returning to Jenner & Block,"
said Anton R. Valukas, Jenner &
Block Chairman. "He has a remarkable track record for finding
creative solutions to "bet-the-company" legal problems, and he
knows how to implement those solutions in a complex political and
media environment. He has developed strong relationships in
Washington D.C. and throughout the
law enforcement community nationwide, particularly among state
attorneys general, and he will be a tremendous asset to clients who
face the most significant legal, regulatory and public policy
challenges."
During his tenure as Associate Attorney General, Mr. Perrelli
oversaw all of the most significant civil litigation of
the United States, involving
virtually every federal agency. These matters spanned the
entire range of litigation by the federal government, including
constitutional challenges to government programs, enforcement of
the False Claims Act, government contracts disputes, and
enforcement of the nation's environmental, antitrust, tax and civil
rights laws. His many accomplishments include the
following:
- Negotiating all aspects of the $20
billion trust fund that BP set up to compensate victims of
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and monitoring the operation of
that fund. Mr. Perrelli subsequently led negotiations
with BP to set aside $1 billion for
early restoration of the Gulf of
Mexico in the wake of the oil spill, and also oversaw the
Justice Department's litigation against those responsible for the
Deepwater Horizon tragedy.
- Brokering settlements that exceeded $25
billion arising out of the five largest mortgage servicers'
alleged failure to comply with legal obligations owed to their
customers (including such things as robo-signing, other violations
of law in the foreclosure process, and violations of law related to
the making of loan modifications). For more than a year, Mr.
Perrelli led this complex, multi-lateral negotiation involving 49
state attorneys general, the country's largest financial
institutions, and a dozen federal agencies.
- Resolving the long-running dispute between Native Americans and
the United States over individual
trust accounting (the Cobell case), which had been in
litigation for more than a decade and involved claims that went
back over a century. Mr. Perrelli led negotiations that
resulted in a landmark $3.4 billion
settlement and successfully pursued congressional legislation to
implement aspects of the settlement.
- Resolving (for a second time) the claims of African-American
farmers against the Department of Agriculture for discrimination in
the making of farm loans (the Pigford II case). Mr.
Perrelli led the United States'
effort to negotiate a $1.25 billion
settlement and successfully pursued congressional legislation to
implement aspects of the settlement.
"I was fortunate to have many options coming out of Justice and
am very excited to be returning to Jenner & Block," Mr.
Perrelli said. "With the extraordinary talent of its lawyers,
especially in the areas of litigation, white collar, and internal
investigations, the firm is an ideal fit for me to utilize my
public and private experience to help clients advance their
business objectives by finding creative solutions to their most
complex legal problems. I look forward to building a practice
with this as the focus."
Building Momentum
"Tom is a tremendous legal talent and I am extremely pleased and
proud that he has chosen to re-join us," said David W. DeBruin, Managing Partner of Jenner
& Block's Washington, DC
office. "Tom's return is just another example of how Jenner
is a firm on the move, both in Washington and nationally. With Tom's
return, other recent high-profile additions, and plans for
significant growth in the future, we are combining our renowned
litigation practice with substantial regulatory and government
policy depth to provide a unique and robust offering to
clients."
Mr. Perrelli's announcement follows the recent arrivals of
Mary Ellen Callahan, former chief
privacy officer for the Department of Homeland Security, to head up
Jenner & Block's new Privacy and Information Governance group;
Reid J. Schar, who led the
government's prosecution of significant public corruption cases,
including that of former Illinois
Governor Rod Blagojevich; and
Kenneth L. Doroshow, former Senior
Vice President and General Counsel of the video game industry's
national trade group.
Early Career
Mr. Perrelli began practicing law as an associate at Jenner
& Block in 1992. Over the next five years, his practice
focused on constitutional and appellate litigation,
telecommunications, and patent litigation. He left the firm
in 1997 to serve as counsel to then-U.S. Attorney General
Janet Reno, rising to the position
of Deputy Assistant Attorney General before returning to Jenner
& Block in 2001.
During the next eight years, Mr. Perrelli concentrated his
practice in copyright, media and constitutional litigation, as well
as complex litigation with a public policy or regulatory
component. He regularly represented the recording industry in
cutting-edge intellectual property, technology and anti-piracy
litigation, as well as in traditional copyright and copyright
royalty matters. Mr. Perrelli was a lead attorney on the
Jenner & Block team that represented a consortium of 28 of the
largest entertainment companies in the country in the landmark
copyright case MGM v. Grokster, involving peer-to-peer
file-sharing services.
For several years, Mr. Perrelli also represented, pro
bono, the husband of Terri
Schiavo, in the high-profile Florida case involving Ms. Schiavo's right to
control and decline life-extending medical care and efforts by the
state and federal governments to overturn prior court decisions
that had ascertained her wishes. He led the constitutional
challenge to state and federal laws before state and federal
courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
At the time he was nominated and confirmed to serve as the
Associate Attorney General in 2009, Mr. Perrelli had been serving
as the Managing Partner of Jenner & Block's Washington, DC office.
Mr. Perrelli is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law
School, where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard Law
Review. He received an A.B., magna cum laude, in
history from Brown University.
About Jenner & Block
Jenner & Block (www.jenner.com) is a national law firm with
approximately 450 attorneys and offices in Chicago, Los
Angeles, New York and
Washington, DC. Founded in
1914, Jenner & Block is known for both its successful
litigation practice and sophisticated transactional work.
SOURCE Jenner & Block LLP