E Danya Perry

Career

A former federal and state prosecutor, Danya Perry also has proven herself to be one of New York City’s foremost civil litigators in both civil and criminal cases. Known for her courtroom presence, Danya is just as tenacious standing up to perpetrators of sexual abuse as she is defending her white collar and CJA clients in criminal matters. Above all, she is a trusted advisor for individuals and companies navigating pivotal legal crises.

Danya is the founding partner of Perry Law. She is a nationally recognized white collar criminal defense attorney and commercial litigator who has obtained tremendous results on behalf of her clients. Danya is as gifted at litigating high-profile matters in court and in the press as she is at navigating backchannels to obtain quiet victories for her clients.

Prior to founding Perry Law, Danya spent five years as the Chief of Litigation and Deputy General Counsel at MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated followed by four years successfully directing a boutique litigation firm. At MacAndrews & Forbes, she managed and advised all aspects of the company’s complex commercial litigation, compliance, and regulatory matters, including in areas of mergers and acquisitions, contract, antitrust, intellectual property, consumer fraud, and employment law. Danya led and coordinated teams of in-house and outside attorneys in the prosecution and defense of all litigation matters. She was responsible for developing, implementing, and enforcing best-in-class compliance programs across the holding company and its operating companies, and she provided guidance to executive management in a broad array of legal and business issues, including in areas of business risk, corporate governance, internal investigations, and best practices.

In 2013, Danya was appointed by the Governor and the Attorney General to serve as Deputy Attorney General for the State of New York and Chief of Investigations for the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption. In this role, she led a sweeping investigation into public corruption in New York State, recommended policies for systemic reform, and referred numerous matters for criminal prosecution.

From 2002 to 2013, Danya served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, including as Senior Trial Counsel and Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, she investigated, prosecuted, and supervised hundreds of sophisticated white collar cases, including the prosecution of a billion-dollar health care fraud, the largest immigration fraud and tax preparer frauds in the history of the United States, and one of the largest identity theft rings in the United States.

Danya has also been an adjunct professor of law at New York University School of Law, where she taught a trial advocacy and prosecution clinic. Early in her career, Danya worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and clerked for the Honorable Charles S. Haight, Jr. in the Southern District of New York.

Practice Areas

Danya Perry is a skilled trial lawyer, bringing extensive experience in government and private practice to the service of her clients at Perry Law. Specializing in white collar defense and investigations, as well as general commercial litigation, internal investigations, and employment law, she has successfully tried dozens of cases and has argued over a dozen appeals.

Danya has represented corporations and individual officers, directors, employees, and shareholders in criminal prosecutions, civil litigations, and grand jury and regulatory investigations conducted by federal and state government agencies and offices.

Danya’s criminal defense practice includes representing clients in cases involving allegations of fraud, extortion, money laundering, sanctions violations, and corruption, among other charges, and she has successfully secured declinations of charges, favorable pleas, settlements, and extraordinary downward departures at sentencing.

Danya also maintains an active practice representing clients in matters involving sexual assault, discrimination, and harassment. For example, she currently represents a number of survivors of sexual assault in a civil litigation against a major public institution, pushing back the antiquated notions that male sexual abuse survivors are somehow not as vulnerable as female survivors or as deserving of recompense. More broadly, a large part of Danya’s docket is her representation of clients in employment matters, on both sides of the aisle.

She also regularly handles independent corporate investigations.

Languages Spoken

Fluent in French; conversant in Spanish and Hebrew.

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Admitted to Practice

New York

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

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Supreme Court of the United States

Education

Awards