Sharie Brown, Partner
DLA Piper
Sharie A. Brown is the chair of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Anti-Corruption and Corporate Compliance practice group and a partner in DLA Piper’s Litigation practice, based in Washington, DC. Ms. Brown represents multinational corporations and conducts internal investigations, audits and transactional due diligence worldwide in the areas of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), OFAC compliance and export controls, corporate ethics and compliance, World Bank procurement frauds, Economic Espionage Act (EEA) and USA Patriot Act anti-money laundering.
She comes to DLA Piper from Foley & Lardner, where she served as chair of that firm’s White Collar Defense & Corporate Compliance practice. While at Foley, Ms. Brown was also a member of the Transactional & Securities and International practices. She was chair of the Litigation department’s Diversity Committee and served on the Litigation Program Committee and the Women’s Network Steering Committee.
Before joining Foley, Ms. Brown was senior counsel at Mobil Oil Corporation, where she also served as the company’s ethics and compliance officer. She developed a worldwide ethics and compliance program, a code of conduct and employee training videos, as well as pamphlets on the FCPA, and Iran, Iraq, Cuba and Libya sanctions compliance. As Mobil’s policy advisor in corporate planning and economics, she handled trade, tax and sanctions issues. Previously, Ms. Brown directed Mobil’s state government relations in key states.
Prior to Mobil, Ms. Brown was an assistant United States attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where she handled tax, bank fraud and securities fraud cases. She was commended by FBI Director William Sessions, for her co-prosecution of a securities fraud RICO, among other enforcement agency commendations. Ms. Brown clerked for the Honorable Richard M. Bilby, United States District Court, District of Arizona.
Ms. Brown’s memberships include the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), USA*Engage, OFAC Working Group, Iran Working Group, Georgetown Corporate Counsel Institute advisory board, ABA Int’l Anticorruption Committee; ABA Int’l Antimoney Laundering Committee; and the International Bar Association. She speaks at ABA, ACI, Compliance Week, CCI, and D.C. Bar conferences,and has served on ABA and DC Bar programming committees.
Ms. Brown’s writings and comments frequently appear in professional publications and the media. In March 2009, she was the subject of the “In My Opinion” interview featured in the National Association of Women Lawyers News. In May 2009, she was quoted in the Business World India article “A Legal Landmine” by Sreevalsan Menon, discussing the domino effect companies may experience when they face FCPA charges.
In May 2009, the National Bar Association’s Greater Washington Area Chapter Women Lawyers Division honored her as a Distinguished Attorney at its 2009 Annual Networking Reception. GWAC was founded in 1974 by a group of African-American women lawyers in the District of Columbia metropolitan area to address community concerns with an emphasis on African-American women in the legal profession.
