Bio

Kara Brockmeyer is a litigation partner based in the firm’s Washington D.C. office. She is a member of the White Collar & Regulatory Defense and Strategic Crisis Response and Solutions Groups, where her practice focuses on representing companies and individuals in anti-corruption, fraud and related government investigations and internal investigations, as well as advising on deal due diligence and compliance matters. Since joining Debevoise in 2017, Ms. Brockmeyer has advised numerous public companies, senior executives and other clients in government investigations and internal investigations, with a particular focus on anti-corruption and accounting issues. Ms. Brockmeyer is ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA (2021), where she is praised for her “deep knowledge of the subtleties of FCPA work, great leadership skills” and her “great awareness of differences in business culture.” She is said to possess “enviable experience in major anticorruption investigations” and “expertise counseling clients on FCPA compliance programs.” Ms. Brockmeyer is also recommended by The Legal 500 US (2021) and by The Legal 500 Latin America (2021). Ms. Brockmeyer joined Debevoise after a seventeen-year career at the SEC, including five and a half years as the Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit, where she directed a nationwide team of attorneys and forensic accountants investigating violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. During her tenure as chief of the unit, she oversaw more than 200 investigations, including many of the agency’s largest and most complex FCPA investigations. She was also one of the principal authors of the SEC-DOJ Resource Guide to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which is widely considered the definitive government-issued guide on the FCPA. Over her career at the SEC, including five years as an assistant director, Ms. Brockmeyer supervised more than 300 investigations, including leading and personally conducting major investigations in all areas of SEC enforcement, including financial reporting and accounting fraud, broker-dealer and investment adviser violations, and insider trading. Before joining the SEC, Ms. Brockmeyer was in private practice in Chicago, primarily focused on securities and complex commercial litigation. Ms. Brockmeyer earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, magna cum laude, where she was also Note Editor of the Michigan Law Review. She received her B.A. from Williams College, cum laude. Ms. Brockmeyer is a frequent national and international speaker and commentator on anti-corruption and cross-border issues. She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the firm’s monthly FCPA Update newsletter, and is the vice-chair of the IBA’s Anti-Corruption Committee’s Structured Criminal Settlements Subcommittee. She is also co-chair of the DC Bar Association’s Broker-Dealer Regulation and SEC Enforcement Committee.