Cheryl Risell is a Complex Litigation + Advisement attorney in Morrison Foerster’s Washington, D.C. office. Her practice includes high-stakes litigation and crisis management matters, focusing on multijurisdictional disputes and complex defense. She has also managed a high-volume portfolio of product liability and breach of warranty claims for global manufacturers, overseeing the litigation lifecycle to defend against allegations of design defects and statutory non-conformity.

With a background in both the U.S. and UK legal systems, Cheryl helps guide international and domestic clients through high-stakes government investigations and white-collar matters, providing strategic counsel on internal investigations and regulatory inquiries. She also focuses on complex civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense, vigorously defending clients before the DOJ, Congress, SEC, and other government regulators. Her experience encompasses a broad range of allegations, including securities and accounting fraud, foreign corruption, economic sanctions violations, False Claims Act (FCA) violations, theft of intellectual property, antitrust issues, conspiracies, and other business crimes.

Using her deep knowledge of the Controlled Substances Act, Cheryl defends healthcare providers, including hospitals and pharmaceutical distributors, from accusations of diversion, including courtroom experience in front of an administrative law judge. She has also represented clients in government investigations by regulators and the U.S. Department of Justice regarding a wide array of issues, including manipulation, fraud, price reporting, supervisory controls, and other prohibited trading practices.

Cheryl speaks conversational Spanish.