Tom Perez

As a Partner at Mayer Brown, Tom Perez leverages an extensive career in federal, state and local government to serve his clients in a wide range of legal and public policy matters. Prior to joining Mayer Brown, Perez -- a former U.S. Cabinet Secretary and high-ranking White House official -- spent the bulk of his career at the Department of Justice, serving as a prosecutor in the Civil Rights Division during both Republican and Democratic administrations. In this capacity, he tried some of the Department’s most high-profile cases. He served as Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. From 2009 to 2013, Perez served as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, where he oversaw civil rights enforcement in a wide variety of areas.

From 2013 until 2017, Perez served as United States Secretary of Labor. Under his leadership, the Department of Labor established critical measures to assist workers, including regulatory initiatives to expand employment opportunities for workers with disabilities, ensuring proper overtime wages, and providing critical consumer protections for retirement savings. Perez also oversaw the settlement of two major labor strikes: one involving 15,000 west coast port workers, and the other a month-long strike involving 40,000 Verizon workers.

Perez's other experience includes serving as Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, Maryland Secretary of Labor, and most recently, as a Senior Advisor to President Biden and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the White House.