Last week, the corporate defense firm BCLP announced the addition of Katie Hausfeld to the firm’s Litigation & Investigations Practice. She joins the firm’s Chicago office.
Hausfeld advises clients on a wide range of high-stakes matters, including corporate investigations, compliance, white-collar defense and complex civil litigation. Her experience includes advising U.S. and multinational companies facing inquiries from agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the World Bank.
She has conducted numerous investigations around the world related to a broad range of issues including allegations of accounting manipulation, fraud, corruption, bribery, money laundering, environmental compliance, insider trading, bid rigging, conflicts of interest, business email compromise, executive misconduct and sexual discrimination. She also counsels her clients in relation to matters involving asset tracing and recovery.
In addition to her investigative work, Hausfeld helps organizations build and strengthen compliance frameworks that meet evolving regulatory standards.
She designs risk-based programs addressing anti-corruption and anti-money laundering requirements, conducts due diligence for transactions, and develops policies and training to support enterprise-wide compliance.
“Katie has extensive experience across investigative and compliance matters that will be a tremendous asset to our clients facing complex regulatory and enforcement challenges,” said BCLP’s Lee Marshall. “Her track record advising global companies on high-stakes matters and building robust compliance programs aligns with our strategic priorities and will further round out our white-collar offerings.”
Outside her practice, Katie is active in pro bono work, including immigration and human rights matters, and has represented clients in significant cases involving family reunification and international advocacy. She’s a frequent author and speaker on compliance and investigations topics. Prior to joining BCLP, Katie was a Partner and Co-Chair of Global Compliance at DLA Piper.
How does your practice break down – individual versus corporate?
“Most of it is corporate,” Hausfeld told Corporate Crime Reporter in an interview last week. “Occasionally, we’ll have individual executives, but typically it tends to largely be corporate clients.”
How does it break down international versus domestic?
“Close to 50/50.”
What about civil versus criminal?
“Again, probably close to a 50/50 split.”
In interviewing defense attorneys in New York and Washington, we’re sensing that downturn and corporate crime enforcement. But you are based in Chicago. Do you think Chicago’s a little insulated from that, given that it is outside the bubble here on the East Coast?
“I hadn’t really thought about it from an East Coast versus Midwest perspective. It’s the same Department of Justice across the country. There may be some regional differences – whether you are in the Southern District of New York versus here in Chicago, but I wouldn’t say it’s a noticeable difference in terms of the prevalence of enforcement.”
“The trends you are seeing impact the East Coast have certainly been impacting us here in Chicago as well too. So no, I don’t see a marked difference in terms of downturn and enforcement versus the rise in a focus on compliance.”
When you are facing a foreign prosecution, how does that differ from facing an investigation triggered by the Department of Justice?
“Obviously there’s differences in privilege laws and discovery laws, in terms of what they are able to ask for. From a strategic point of view, we may want to work through local counsel, as opposed to tipping our hand that you’ve got lawyers from the United States involved as well.”
“I had a matter recently where we didn’t want to indicate to local regulators that it was a bigger deal than maybe local regulators were thinking. The company wanted U.S. counsel involved.”
“You also have conflict of laws issues that arise.”
The one area of practice that may be immune to the current downturn in enforcement is the False Claims Act. Are you seeing that?
“Yes. I think there may be more False Claims Act cases coming in this next year. You have the Department of Justice’s Trade Fraud Task Force that was established last fall. Life sciences and the healthcare sector have been the premiere sector for False Claims Act cases for many years now. We might see more cases coming out of the AI sector – what the companies are promising compared to what they deliver.”
Does it matter whether a corporate criminal defense lawyer is practicing in Chicago, or New York or Washington?
“It hasn’t made a difference in my practice. I would say probably only maybe a quarter of my clients are in Chicago, and the rest of them are elsewhere around the country or around the globe. I don’t think it substantively makes a difference. Just from a law firm staffing perspective, we staff with the best attorneys for the team across the firm.”
“So whatever office they are sitting in really doesn’t make a difference.”
Over the years, we have covered the growth of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association. Are you a member?
“I am. I’m also part of the leadership team as well.”
When we started the publication 40 years ago, I would go to these American Bar Association white collar crime conferences. Often they were held in places like New Orleans. Back then, the number of women attending that conference was less than ten percent. Now it is much greater.
“I started going maybe twelve years ago to the ABA White Collar Conference. The WWCDA – we do our annual meeting right before the ABA White Collar Conference. Just in terms of the number of women attending from all over the globe. When I first started going, there were maybe 75 to 100 women. Now, we are packing ballrooms. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I think it’s around 300 to 400 women, if not more. It’s remarkable and incredible to bring that community of women together.”
“At the white collar conference as well, I see the number of women increasing. It’s been wonderful to see young women coming up within the profession as well. From my own anecdotal experience, I’m seeing more and more female summer associates coming out of law school who are really interested in pursuing a career in white collar criminal defense.”
I do know that there have been female prosecutors attending your events. Is the organization just for white collar defense attorneys?
“There are a handful of men involved in our get-togethers as well. But in terms of memberships, active prosecutors and judges are not members of the organization, but often they are invited to attend our meetings and speak at our events.”
What’s your take on the rise of deferred and non prosecution agreements?
“The government wants companies to come forward with enforcement issues and to self-report. One of the ways you can get companies to come forward and turn over the bad actors, is to show companies that there is a benefit to come forward and self-report or at least cooperate with the government’s investigation. That’s where a lot of the non prosecution and deferred prosecution agreements come from. That’s part of the incentive structure.”
Is there any way to measure whether a compliance program is actually working in deterring wrongdoing?
“I don’t think there is one way to measure it. There are a variety of different ways. One is the number of calls that are getting through to your hotline. I have to remind clients that not getting calls to your hotline is not an indication that you have no problems at your company. It’s an indication that people don’t necessarily trust coming forward with questions or concerns. There are a variety of ways to track whether your compliance program is working effectively. One of the biggest ones is from a culture perspective – do the stakeholders believe that your company is an ethical company and has a strong compliance culture?”
[For the complete Interview with Katie Hausfeld, 40 Corporate Crime Reporter 4, January 26, 2026, print edition only.]