Following Lawsuit, Federal Health Agencies Finally Deliver on Pandemic-Related Duties

Marjorie J. Peerce is a litigator with a practice focus on white collar criminal defense, virtual currency, regulatory matters, and complex civil litigation. In her more than 30 years of practice, she has handled matters across the criminal and regulatory spectrum. She is Managing Partner of the firm's New York office, a member of its Elected Board, and is a founding leader of the Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency team. That team is composed of lawyers from virtually every practice area in the firm, and aids clients in myriad matters related to virtual currency and the blockchain, including matters related to initial coin offerings, developing and implementing new products, navigating the complicated maze of government regulation and enforcement, advising on issues related to blockchain technology, and protecting both the data and the consumers who use it. She also is a board member of the Digital Currency & Ledger Defense Coalition. Margie appears in New York state and federal courts, as well as in federal districts around the country. She has handled criminal and regulatory investigations concerning, for example, violations of the Internal Revenue Code, securities fraud (including Bitcoins), initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency trading, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Bank Secrecy Act, government contract procurement and subsidy fraud, mail fraud, bribery, accounting fraud, immigration fraud, health care fraud, environmental matters, commodities fraud, computer fraud and hacking, and criminal customs investigations. Margie has handled a significant number of matters with the SEC, as well as with FINRA and the CFTC. She has handled numerous matters with the New York Attorney General in a variety of areas. She also regularly represents individuals in myriad matters in the Criminal and Supreme Courts in New York City. In her civil practice, Margie has represented defendants in securities class actions, financial institutions in commercial and real estate disputes, employees involved in noncompete disputes, general commercial litigation, and matters for several major real estate companies in New York City. She has represented doctors under investigation with the Office of Professional Medical Conduct in New York, as well as lawyers with disciplinary matters pending before the Departmental Disciplinary Committees, state employees with the New York State Department of Professional Discipline, health care professionals with the New York State Office of Medicaid Inspector General, and a former state employee in a matter with the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Margie is past president of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers, a premier defense lawyers' organization composed of 240 of New York's preeminent white collar lawyers. As the past chair of the Council's Sentencing Guidelines Committee, she prepared regular submissions to the U.S. Sentencing Commission on the Guidelines and testified before the Commission on two occasions. Margie is the current co-chair of the Sentencing Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and serves on a task force addressing the Trial Penalty.

Kahlil Williams represents companies and individuals in government and internal investigations, actions involving securities and corporate governance, and complex commercial litigation. Kahlil has also represented a number of clients in voting rights and election law litigation, drawing on his prior work for the Brennan Center for Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. Kahlil leads the Firm’s Black Lawyers Group and is a co-leader of the Firm’s Racial Justice and Equality Initiative. He is also a co-leader of the firm’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Working Group, where he advises companies on emerging ESG issues, including securities litigation and corporate governance trends and the mitigation of social and reputational risk. Prior to joining Ballard Spahr, Kahlil worked for an international firm in New York City.