Kara Brockmeyer is a litigation partner in the firm’s Washington D.C. office, where she represents companies and individuals in anti-corruption, fraud and related government investigations and internal investigations, and advises on deal due diligence and compliance matters. She is a member of the White Collar & Regulatory Defense and Strategic Crisis Response and Solutions Groups.
Ms. Brockmeyer is a recognized international expert on the FCPA and corporate compliance programs. She is ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global (2024) and Chambers USA (2023), where clients note that her “approach, knowledge level, experience and expertise make her a must contact for any FCPA issue.” She has also received praise for her “superior commercial awareness,” 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 Latin America (2024), where clients have noted her “excellent ability to simplify and manage the most complex cases and situations in an efficient and clear manner.”
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. She regularly advises clients on their compliance obligations, including corporate governance and the design and implementation of compliance programs and internal controls. She is a frequent speaker and commentator on compliance and corporate governance topics, as well as anti-corruption and regulatory enforcement issues.
Ms. Brockmeyer is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the firm’s monthly FCPA Update newsletter, and is the hiring partner for the DC office. She chairs the IBA’s Anti-Corruption Committee’s Non-Trial Resolutions Subcommittee, dedicated to increasing the use of non-trial resolution frameworks worldwide, and is a member of the Steering Committee for the DC Bar Association’s Corporation, Finance and Securities Community. Ms. Brockmeyer is also on the Board of Trustees for the Legal Aid Society of DC.
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, and oversaw more than two dozen corporate monitors and independent compliance consultants on behalf of the government. She was also one of the principal authors of the first 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. She was the recipient of numerous awards while at the SEC, including the SEC’s Meritorious Impact Award, Irving M. Pollack Award, and Capital Markets Award. 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.