Laura Perkins Discusses Commonwealth Edison Bribery Trial in Law360

March 2023- Laura Perkins was quoted in a Law360 report detailing the latest updates in the Commonwealth Edison bribery trial, which began on March 13.

Illinois utility company Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) was charged with bribing ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in return for favorable energy regulation. The article explores various pretrial conference rulings that determined the evidence that will be barred from the trial, including ComEd’s $200 million deferred prosecution agreement with the government.  

Perkins, co-chair of HHR’s Anticorruption Practice Group, spoke of the potential consequences if the agreement is eventually allowed into evidence. She noted that ComEd could decrease the impact of any admission of the agreement by arguing that “entering a DPA is something companies do at times not because they're guilty, but because it's a lesser evil for the company; that they simply sold out their executives; that the facts underlying it haven't been proven in court”.

Read the article.