Ropes & Gray LLP

Investigations

Office Managing Partner of the Washington, DC office

Colleen is the office managing partner of Ropes & Gray’s Washington, D.C. office. She has extensive experience in representing multinational corporations and their executives in government investigations of potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, export control regulations and anti-money laundering laws, Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, and the various securities fraud statutes, as well as criminal prosecutions for economic espionage or theft of trade secrets. Colleen also advises clients on internal investigations and compliance matters and has worked with clients around the globe across the health care, life sciences, financial services, manufacturing, and telecommunications industries. She worked with her team to obtain a judgment of acquittal at the close of the government’s case for a former Associate General Counsel at a major pharmaceutical company who was charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements in connection with an FDA inquiry into the company’s marketing practices.

Prior to joining the firm, Colleen served as a Senior Litigation Counsel in the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division in the United States Department of Justice. As a federal prosecutor, she investigated and tried several of the Department’s largest and most important white collar matters, including United States v. Nacchio, a four week insider trading jury trial of the former CEO of Qwest Communications International, Inc., relating to the sale of $52 million in stock, and United States v. Scrushy, a five month securities fraud and money laundering jury trial of the former CEO and Chairman of HealthSouth Corporation in connection with his alleged role in a $2.7 billion accounting scheme. In 2007, Colleen received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Director’s Annual Award for Outstanding Criminal Investigation. 

Prior to joining the Criminal Division, Colleen served for seven years in the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division where she tried multiple cases involving claims against the government in excess of $3 billion. 

JD, Boston College Law School, 1990; Supervising Editor and Staff Writer, Uniform Commercial Code Reporter Digest BS/BA (Accounting), cum laude, The Ohio State University, 1984