DLA Piper LLP (US)

Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations

Partner; US Representative on the DLA Piper Africa Board

Naana is a former federal prosecutor and trial lawyer with over 17 years of experience conducting a broad array of investigations both in private practice and in the public sector. She has extensive experience defending companies and individuals in high-profile civil and criminal matters brought by a wide variety of prosecutors and regulators in the US and in countries all over the world as well as across a range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, automotive manufacturing, nuclear construction, and private equity. Her practice includes white-collar criminal defense, internal corporate investigations and government enforcement actions, including violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, compliance consulting, international arbitration, and international disputes. Although Naana's practice is global in its reach, she has a particular focus on Africa.

Naana served for four years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago). During her tenure as a federal prosecutor, she served as lead counsel on dozens of felony investigations and prosecutions, including various financial fraud schemes and transnational narcotics trafficking matters. She presented and obtained federal grand jury indictments on dozens of cases and appeared in federal court for numerous legal and evidentiary hearings. She also successfully tried several financial fraud jury and bench trials to verdict and briefed and argued appeals before the US Courts of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

DLA Piper’s Global Scholarships Program Board; Yale University President’s Council on International Activities; American Society of International Law; Leadership Council on Leadership Diversity, 2019 Fellow; Women's White Collar Defense Association, Co-Chair of the Awards Committee; Yale University President's Council on International Activities

LL.M., University of Torino and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute; J.D., Yale Law School; B.A., Amherst College