Laura Ariane Miller focuses her practice on internal investigations and the white collar defense of civil and criminal allegations against corporations, corporate executives, and high-profile individual defendants. She has extensive experience in all facets of criminal litigation, including investigations, grand jury practice, motions practice, and trials.
Ms. Miller’s clients have included Fortune 500 corporations and executives in these companies, as well as the leaders of small businesses and a number of federal and state government elected and appointed officials. She has represented clients in congressional hearings and investigations, in matters before the special prosecutor, and in federal and state courts throughout the nation. Ms. Miller has defended clients in high-profile as well as highly confidential ethics investigations and government contracts inquiries.
Ms. Miller’s government contracts cases have spanned a variety of disciplines, federal and state agencies, and issues. In particular, Ms. Miller has experience in defending cases brought under the False Claims Act and other whistleblower statutes. In many instances, these are cases of concurrent criminal and civil enforcement investigations.
Ms. Miller has directed internal investigations both from the perspective of assisting clients in detecting employee misconduct and seeking restitution as well as defending the institution’s interests in light of allegations made by government agents, competitors, or disgruntled former employees. In addition, her practice includes assisting clients in developing and maintaining effective corporate compliance programs. Ms. Miller has assisted clients internationally on a variety of matters, including investigations into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in South America, in Europe, and in the former Soviet Union.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Miller served as a law clerk to Justice Byron R. White of the United States Supreme Court. She also worked as Deputy Commissioner of the United States Administration for Children, Youth, and Families, and Special Assistant to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Community Service
While maintaining her high-profile national practice, Ms. Miller has been a leader in a number of national and global outreach activities. In 2007, she was one of ten legal experts worldwide selected to participate in the training of Sudanese lawyers. This Darfur advocacy training, the first of its kind, was sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation and was designed to assist the Sudanese lawyers representing victims before the International Criminal Court.
She has also served as a commissioner on the Justice Kennedy Commission, which reviewed criminal justice practices in America, identifying injustices and inadequacies in sentencing guidelines, prisons, and correctional systems.
In addition, she served on the Executive Committee of the Yale Law School Association. Recently, Ms. Miller was appointed chair of the Board of the Michigan in Washington Program, and she sits on the Advisory Committee of the Political Science Department of the University of Michigan. In 2009, she was elected to a three year term on the Board of the Yale Law School Fund.