DLA Piper welcomes former FDA counsel Perham Gorji in Washington, DC

DLA Piper is pleased to announce Perham Gorji, former Deputy Chief Counsel of Litigation at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has joined the firm’s Litigation practice. He will be based in the Washington, DC office.

Gorji served as Deputy Chief Counsel for Litigation at the FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel (FDA-OCC) since 2014. In this role, he directly supervised the FDA’s civil and criminal matters, including seizures, injunctions, administrative actions, civil money penalties, subpoena responses, judicial defensive matters and criminal investigations related to violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Public Health Service Act, and related federal statutes.

In addition to his years of service at the FDA-OCC, Gorji has extensive white collar and trial experience gained as both an Assistant US Attorney in the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia (USAO) and as a trial attorney at the Department of Justice (DOJ) Consumer Protection Branch (CPB).

At the USAO and CPB, Gorji successfully led several grand jury investigations involving agents and investigators from numerous law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the US Postal Inspection Service, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General and the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI).

He successfully prosecuted several large pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers for various federal violations, including the marketing of misbranded drugs and medical devices for off-label promotion, and adulterated medical products manufactured in violation of current good manufacturing practices. Gorji engaged senior DOJ and client agency officials to discuss, explain, and provide advice regarding agency policies, plans, programs, operations and decisions related to civil litigation and criminal investigations.

“Perham’s deep expertise and major trial experience in FDA and other government enforcement matters are unique in the marketplace,” said Loren Brown, chair of the firm’s US Disputes practice. “We know our clients will value his counsel in a wide range of complex regulatory and enforcement matters.

“Perham adds to the top-notch FDA team in our Washington, DC office and further amplifies the firm’s commitment to growth in this area, both regionally and globally,” said William Minor, managing partner of the firm’s office in the nation’s capital.

DLA Piper’s FDA Regulatory practice provides strategic counselling and advocacy for pharmaceutical, medical device, dietary supplements, food and beverage, biologics, cannabis, tobacco and diagnostics and clinical laboratory companies in a wide range of matters involving the FDA and other government agencies, from clinical development and marketing authorization strategies to post-marketing compliance. Our attorneys combine an understanding of agency practice, science, policy, and bioethics with practical strategies to meet business objectives and mitigate risk in an increasingly complex regulatory and enforcement environment.