Veronica Percia

With over a decade of experience as a lead trial attorney and litigation supervisor in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Educational Opportunities Section, Veronica Percia has personally handled some of the nation’s most impactful civil rights cases.  She is recognized for her deep subject matter expertise, her outstanding oral and written advocacy skills, and her unmatched strategic thinking.

Veronica has particular expertise in education-related civil rights issues and federal anti-discrimination law.  She is an experienced litigator, first-chairing trial teams, spearheading the federal government’s filing of statements of interest in courts around the country, and advising DOJ attorneys on appellate and Supreme Court litigation strategy on education-related civil rights issues. She has also conducted dozens of government investigations of K-12 school districts, colleges, and universities, and negotiated groundbreaking settlements for the United States.

Throughout every lawsuit, investigation, and negotiation, Veronica has worked with schools to bring them into compliance with federal civil rights laws in a way that is sensitive to each institution’s unique mission, structure, and constituency — earning her a reputation for fairmindedness, pragmatism, and effectiveness.  

Now in private practice, Veronica brings to her institutional clients an invaluable perspective on how the federal government works, expertly navigating them through aggressive federal civil rights enforcement while protecting and furthering their institutional missions. 

In addition to representing educational and other mission-driven institutions, Veronica offers co-counsel and expert consultant services and training to offices of State Attorneys General, law firms, and other legal organizations and nonprofits working on education-related investigations and litigation. Veronica also conducts internal investigations for schools, employers, and other organizations, and represents individuals in employment discrimination and education matters.

Prior to joining DOJ, Veronica was an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Jones Day in the firm’s prestigious Labor and Employment practice.  She served as a law clerk to Justice Peter Rubin on the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Hon. Patricia Millett on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. 

Veronica graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Political Communications and received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif.

• John Dunne Award (2024) for exceptional accomplishments to the furtherance of civil rights. 
• Special Commendation Award (2016, 2020) for outstanding contributions to the mission of the Educational Opportunities Section.
• Attorney General’s Outstanding Mentorship Award (2018)
• Special Achievement Award (2015) for exemplary service to the Department of Justice’s civil rights mission. 
• Annual Outstanding Performance Awards (2015–2024) for sustained excellence in civil rights enforcement. 
• Women Lawyers Association Foundation Scholar 
• Robert S. Feldman Labor Law Award
• Dean’s Merit Scholarship

• Represented the United States in dozens of civil rights investigations and settlement negotiations with school districts and postsecondary institutions across the country to help reform their response to allegations of harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, and disability.
• Directed a multiagency Title IX investigation of the  University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) that uncovered decades of allegations of sexual abuse by an athletics coach and resulted in the Civil Rights Division’s largest-ever Title IX damages settlement, along with sweeping institutional reforms.
• First chaired the United States’ winning trial team in Stout et al. v. Jefferson County Board of Education (N.D. Ala.), a multiparty litigation involving the City of Gardendale’s attempt to secede from a school district under federal desegregation order.
• Served as the lead trial attorney in United States v. South Bend Community School Corporation (N.D. Ind.), a case involving ongoing litigation over race discrimination in the South Bend public school system.
• Filed statements of interest and contributed to amicus briefs on behalf of the United States in significant Title IX cases, including Brown v. Arizona (9th Cir. en banc), Peltier v. Charter Day School (4th Cir. en banc and on petition for cert.), Doe v. Fairfax County School Board (4th Cir. and on petition for cert.), S.C. v. Metropolitan Gov’t of Nashville (6th Cir.), Czerwienski v. Harvard University (D. Mass.), T.F. & S.W. v. Kansas State University (D. Kan), Roe. v. Critchfield (N.D. Idaho), and Rinderle v. Cobb County School District (N.D. Ga.).

Veronica is a member of the Bars of Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.