Tara Lee

Practice Areas

Tara Lee, a partner in Dechert’s Washington, D.C. office, is a widely recognized litigation and investigations lawyer who has been recognized as the U.S. Trial Lawyer of the Year by Benchmark Litigation, and as a top investigations lawyer by Global Investigation Review. Her litigation practice spans complex commercial litigation, wrongful death and mass tort matters, False Claims Act, ATA, and ATCA cases, and high-visibility independent and internal corporate investigations. Her investigations practice encompasses some of the highest-profile investigations and crisis management experience in the country. Her career includes a record of leadership that spans practice group chairs, government service and decorated military service.

Ms. Lee has led some of the country's most prominent independent and internal corporate investigations, spanning environmental, social and governance (ESG), corporate governance, bias and corporate crime, and is recognized for her ability to guide diverse stakeholder communities through the competing demands of advocacy and communications strategy in a crisis.

Beyond the courtroom and boardroom, Ms. Lee has served as an expert witness before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the intersection of international human rights law and U.S. domestic and extraterritorial jurisdiction and has twice addressed United Nations Working Groups on the civil litigation exposure of businesses operating overseas.

Prior to joining Dechert, Ms. Lee served as co-chair of the National Trial Practice at a major law firm devoted exclusively to business litigation and arbitration, and previously as co-chair of the Global Investigations practice and global chair of the Cross-Border Litigation practice at another global law firm. Before her career in private practice, she served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, with assignments in a helicopter squadron and in staff positions at Wing and AirPac commands. While on active duty in the Navy Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps, she earned the distinction of ATLA Outstanding Military Trial Lawyer.