Prava Palacharla

Prava advises clients on cybersecurity matters informed by more than 12 years of legal experience and a background in federal cybercrime prosecutions. She counsels Fortune 50 companies on legal risks arising from cyber threats and emerging technology development, including material cybersecurity incidents and insider threats. Her work also encompasses national security issues, sanctions and export control compliance. She works with leading cybersecurity firms, guides multidisciplinary teams through cross-border cybercrime investigations and prosecutions, and advises on the seizure of cyber infrastructure and virtual currencies.

Before joining Ashurst Perkins Coie, Prava was a trial attorney in the National Security Cyber Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division. There, she worked with law enforcement agencies around the world, intelligence communities, financial institutions and private-sector entities to lead complex cybersecurity prosecutions. She also participated in working groups examining the legal and national security implications of AI, quantum computing and cryptocurrency mining. In 2026, she received an Award in Excellence from the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division for her work prosecuting a former general manager of a major U.S. defense contractor who sold stolen trade secrets to a Russian cybertools broker.

Earlier, Prava served as an Assistant United States Attorney and Senior Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Her portfolio included cybersecurity, national security and white-collar crime matters involving wire fraud, computer fraud, international financial crime, economic espionage, export controls and sanctions evasion. Among her prosecutions were a case involving individuals who trafficked illicit Iranian oil through the U.S. financial system to fund a terrorist group in violation of U.S. sanctions, and a nationwide SIM-swapping conspiracy that led to the theft of hundreds of millions in cryptocurrency from a virtual currency exchange. She received multiple special achievement awards during her tenure at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

At the DOJ, Prava worked regularly with the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, the Treasury, Energy and Homeland Security, and maintained an active security clearance from 2022 to 2026. Before her federal service, she was a local prosecutor at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago. She earned her B.A. from the University of Illinois and her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

• Chicago-Kent College of Law, J.D., 2013
• University of Illinois, B.A., Philosophy, 2010

• The George Washington University Law School, Adjunct Professor, 2023-present
• South Asian Bar Association, Executive Board Member, 2018
• Asian American Bar Association

• U.S. Department of Justice - National Security Division, Washington, D.C., Trial Attorney, National Security Cyber Section, 2025-2026
• U.S. Attorney's Office, Washington, D.C., Assistant United States Attorney, 2018-2020; Senior Assistant United States Attorney, 2020-2025
• Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Chicago, IL, Assistant State’s Attorney, 2014-2018