Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Hoey has joined the firm Ropes & Gray as a partner in the government enforcement practice in the Chicago office.

Hoey will focus on health care clients, including pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers and hospitals. She also will apply her Department of Justice experience to FCPA matters and to providing advice on enforcement issues to a growing number of private equity firms that have invested in the health care industry.

Hoey's tenure as a federal prosecutor gives her a unique perspective on government enforcement actions, an asset in defending clients against white collar criminal allegations. Based in the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Arkansas in Little Rock, Hoey was a lead prosecutor on several multijurisdictional cases and also argued three cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Earlier in her career, Hoey worked as an associate in Ropes & Gray's government enforcement practice. As a federal prosecutor, Hoey was the healthcare fraud coordinator and helped organize a healthcare fraud task force of federal and local law enforcement personnel for the state of Arkansas.