Ratwik, Paul C.

Pravin Rao is a partner in the firm's Litigation practice. Pravin is an experienced trial lawyer and former Assistant U.S. Attorney whose practice is focused in the areas of white collar litigation, securities and corporate law counseling, internal investigations, compliance, and the defense of Securities and Exchange Commission investigations and enforcement actions.

Prior to joining Perkins Coie, Pravin served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, where he supervised and developed strategies in investigations that targeted violations of federal criminal law, including commodity and securities fraud, bank fraud, mail/wire fraud, mortgage fraud, bankruptcy fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft, copyright infringement, public corruption, tax offenses, arson, narcotics, firearms, health care fraud, money laundering, civil rights violations, child pornography, perjury and obstruction. Pravin conducted parallel investigations with the SEC and CFTC in complex cases involving large publicly traded companies, directors and officers, broker-dealers and hedge funds. During his tenure as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Pravin tried 10 jury trials, argued 11 appeals, and received the Department of Justice's Performance Award in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Pravin has also served as a Branch Chief with the SEC, where he directed numerous high-profile investigations and litigation involving financial statement and disclosure fraud, insider trading, investment advisory fraud, prime bank and Ponzi schemes, market manipulation, failure to supervise, broker-dealer misconduct, and record-keeping, reporting and registration violations. While at the SEC, Pravin received the SEC Chairman's Award for Excellence in Enforcement and three SEC Special Act awards for exemplary work on investigations and litigation. Prior to serving at the SEC, Pravin was a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney where he served as first chair in a large number of trials prosecuting felonies and misdemeanors and argued over 25 appeals on behalf of the State of Illinois.