Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that Jennifer L. Achilles has joined the firm’s New York office as a partner in the White Collar Defense & Investigations group. Jennifer brings to the practice nearly 20 years of experience counseling companies and individuals in white collar criminal defense and regulatory enforcement matters, as well as internal investigations. Jennifer joins Blank Rome from Reed Smith LLP where she led the Global Regulatory Enforcement Group in the firm’s New York office for the past three years.
“We are thrilled to welcome Jennifer to our firm,” said Grant S. Palmer, Blank Rome’s Managing Partner and CEO. “Our nationally recognized White Collar Defense & Investigations group, which recently added leading partners Jennifer A. Short and William E. Lawler III in our D.C. office and Paul H. Tzur in our Chicago office, is highly experienced in counseling clients through the most sensitive, high-stakes situations they could encounter. The team is well positioned to help clients that are subject to oversight by various government and regulatory agencies.”
“Jennifer has a stellar track record defending clients against allegations of business crime or corporate misconduct,” said Jerry D. Bernstein, Partner and Co-Chair of Blank Rome’s White Collar Defense & Investigations group. “The white collar bar is widely anticipating an uptick in enforcement activity under the new Biden administration, and Jennifer’s highly experienced counsel will be critical for clients facing criminal investigations, government investigations, congressional inquiries, or whistleblower accusations, among other enforcement activity.”
Jennifer’s practice spans several industries, including financial services, energy, media and entertainment, and life sciences. She represents public and private companies, as well as their officers and directors, in insider trading, market manipulation, fraud, antitrust and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and New York District Attorney’s and Attorney General’s offices. Jennifer also helps clients respond to grand jury subpoenas, internal investigations triggered by whistleblowers, and investigations by the DOJ or other regulators. For clients initiating internal investigations in advance of, or in connection with, government investigations, she provides counsel on cooperation and self-disclosure strategies.
“Blank Rome has made a concerted effort to strategically grow its white collar defense and investigations team, strongly positioning the firm to effectively counsel clients at a time when white collar crime enforcement is anticipated to ramp up,” said Achilles. “In addition, the firm has strong, national capabilities and multidisciplinary teams in the related areas of ESG, FinTech and cryptocurrency, and anti-money laundering and economic sanctions. I am eager to collaborate with the firm’s attorneys across these various practice areas, and look forward to notably working with Blank Rome’s white collar defense team in New York, including Jerry Bernstein, Rither Alabre, and Inbal Garrity.”
Throughout the course of her career, Jennifer has dedicated time to pro bono work, most recently on behalf of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund’s Name Change Project. For several years, Blank Rome has collaborated with the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund to host pro bono clinics for local transgender and gender-nonbinary folks who cannot afford the cost of legally changing their names. Jennifer is also a member of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association.
Jennifer earned her J.D. from Tulane Law School, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, her M.S. from Yale University, and her A.B. from Vassar College.
