Deirdre Daly

Practice Areas

• White-Collar Defense & Internal Investigations

Career

Deirdre formerly served as United States attorney for the District of Connecticut and focuses her practice on significant white-collar criminal matters and internal investigations. Drawing on 20 years of experience inside the Department of Justice, she brings a deep understanding of prosecutorial decision-making to her practice.

Deirdre represents executives, corporations, and boards, across a range of industries, as well as non-profit institutions, facing high-stakes federal criminal investigations. Deirdre has also conducted sensitive internal investigations for public companies, universities, hospitals, asset-management companies, and private equity portfolio companies. She regularly counsels corporate clients on risk mitigation and compliance measures. Deirdre led an eight-month independent investigation for Yale University, culminating in a public report that the university cited for its “excellent recommendations.”

Deirdre is the first woman to be presidentially appointed to lead the United States Attorney’s Office in Connecticut. As the state’s chief federal law enforcement officer, she oversaw 65 attorneys and all litigation in the state involving the federal government. That role included the prosecution of federal offenses relating to securities, healthcare, and other financial fraud; national security; cybercrime; public corruption; civil rights; human trafficking; child exploitation; environmental crimes; gang violence; and narcotics distribution. In addition to being the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, she served for 12 years as an Assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, handling a broad range of federal criminal matters. Deirdre has tried close to twenty criminal trials, including three murder trials.

Throughout her career, Deirdre has been recognized as a leader whose judgment is respected and valued. During her tenure as U.S. attorney, the attorney general of the United States appointed her to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys (AGAC), providing strategic advice on issues impacting the Department of Justice and the 94 offices of U.S. attorneys. She was recently selected to co-chair the Connecticut Bar Association task force on police reform whose work led to substantial legislative action.

Earlier in her career, she served as an environmental and safety monitor reporting to the board of directors for a large public utility. At FDH, she is co-chair of the Litigation group, leads the DEI and pro bono committees, and is actively engaged in hiring and the Women’s Initiative Network.

Professional Memberships

Bar Admissions:

• New York

• Connecticut

District of Columbia

• Appointed Chair of the Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Committee by the Judges of the U.S. District Court in Connecticut (2019, 2020)

• Co-Chair (2020-2021), Connecticut Bar Association (CBA) Policing Task Force

• Member (2020-2021), CBA Federal Judiciary Committee

• President (2020-2021), Board Member (2018-2020), Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity

• Member, Attorney General’s Advisory Committee; Co-Chair White Collar Fraud Subcommittee; Chair, Forensic Science Working Group (2015-2016)

• Commissioner, National Commission on Forensic Science; Public Commission formed by the Department of Justice and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to enhance the practice and improve the reliability of forensic science (2015-2016)

• Member, Committee on Admissions and Grievances for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2008-2010)

• Co-President (2007-2010), Trustee (2001-2010), Board of Trustees, Greens Farms Academy

Publications

• Report of Independent Investigation: Sexual Misconduct by Yale Professor D. Eugene Redmond, August 14, 2019

Expert in these Jurisdictions

• Connecticut

• District of Columbia

• New York

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

• U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Education

Awards