Kara Brockmeyer is of counsel in the firm’s Washington D.C. office. 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 also regularly advised clients on their compliance obligations, including corporate governance and the design and implementation of compliance programs and internal controls.

Ms. Brockmeyer is a recognized international expert on the FCPA and corporate compliance programs. She is a frequent speaker and commentator on compliance and corporate governance topics, as well as anti-corruption and regulatory enforcement issues. She is ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global (2024) and Chambers USA (2024), and is also recommended by The Legal 500 US (2024) and by The Legal 500 Latin America (2024).

Prior to her retirement, Ms. Brockmeyer was Co-Editor-in-Chief of the firm’s monthly FCPA Update newsletter, and the hiring partner for the DC office. She also chaired the IBA Anti-Corruption Committee’s Non-Trial Resolutions Subcommittee, dedicated to increasing the use of non-trial resolution frameworks worldwide, and was a member of the Steering Committee for the DC Bar Association’s Corporation, Finance and Securities Community. Ms. Brockmeyer was 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. Between 2011 and 2017, she was 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.