Kenneth A. Polite, a former US Attorney, former chief compliance officer, and an accomplished litigator, has broad experience representing clients in a variety of criminal, civil, and compliance matters. He focuses on counseling executives and corporate management on complex and sensitive issues, and handles internal and government investigations, white collar criminal defense, commercial litigation, appellate advocacy, and corporate compliance and governance, particularly in the energy and healthcare sectors.
Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Kenneth was vice president and chief compliance officer for Entergy Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in New Orleans, where he led the Ethics and Compliance Department, with responsibility for fostering a culture of integrity and compliance with the company’s code of conduct. He also managed compliance controls for regulations promulgated by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and developed and implemented a risk-intelligent compliance model as part of Entergy’s enterprise risk management strategy.
Kenneth served as the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, based in New Orleans, from 2013 to 2017. As the chief federal law enforcement officer for Southeast Louisiana, he supervised the work of approximately 55 assistant US attorneys and was responsible for all criminal and civil matters in which the federal government was involved. Those matters included political corruption, gang violence and narcotics distribution, healthcare fraud, human trafficking, civil rights violations, tax evasion, and environmental crimes.
In April 2015, Attorney General Loretta Lynch appointed Kenneth to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC) of US Attorneys. The AGAC serves as the voice of the 93 US attorneys across the nation and provides advice and counsel to the US Attorney General and other senior leaders at the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on policy, management, and operational issues. In addition, he served as a member of the AGAC Subcommittees on Violent and Organized Crime, White Collar Crime, and Civil Rights, as well as the Smart on Crime Working Group.
Kenneth’s initial DOJ experience came as an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted a broad range of federal offenses, including organized crime, public corruption, healthcare fraud, and identity theft.
Additionally, Kenneth has extensive experience in white collar criminal defense, first in the New York office of another global firm, and later, as head of the white collar practice of a New Orleans firm. He has managed internal investigations, defended Fortune 500 executives in parallel criminal and administrative proceedings, and represented clients across a variety of sectors, including healthcare and life sciences, technology, energy, and financial services.
A former law clerk at the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Kenneth is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer with extensive experience in federal and state courts. A Smart on Crime advocate, he is also a frequent speaker on criminal justice reform.