Emilia McKee Vassallo

Emilia McKee Vassallo was appointed as a Member of the Commission on November 1, 2023, by the Honorable Josh Shapiro, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Ms. McKee Vassallo is a White Collar Defense/Internal Investigations Partner in the Philadelphia office of national law firm Ballard Spahr. She is an experienced litigator and legal counselor, she focuses on conducting internal investigations and representing businesses, organizations, and individuals in white collar defense and complex commercial litigation.  Ms. McKee Vassallo has conducted internal investigations of high-profile, highly sensitive matters for major corporations, government agencies, and institutions, including investigations spurred by whistleblower complaints to federal and state agencies. She applies her investigative and analytical skills and experience in civil and criminal cases to litigate complex commercial disputes, with an emphasis on unfair competition cases. Ms. McKee Vassallo’s experience encompasses advising on antitrust and securities-related compliance, government investigations, and enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice, including counsel and training on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. She also has experience with private securities litigation, where she has successfully represented clients in contentious arbitration of high-stakes disputes. Ms. McKee Vassallo also maintains an active pro bono practice and is a volunteer on the Prisoner Civil Rights Panel in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Ms. McKee Vassallo served as clerk for the Honorable Ann Claire Williams, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the Honorable Lawrence F. Stengel, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

She is a Fellow for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, is a Member of the Executive Committee of the Temple Law Alumni Association, participates in the Corporate Counsel Women of Color Conference, is a Stakeholder of the Charting Your Own Course program, and serves on Ballard Spahr's Hiring Committee and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council.

She has been recognized as Philadelphia Business Journal's "40 Under 40" List in 2023, named The Best Lawyers in America "Ones to Watch," Criminal Defense: White-Collar, 2021-2024 (Philadelphia), and recognized as a 2022 “Lawyer on the Fast Track” by The Legal Intelligencer. She received the Philadelphia Business Journal's Amber Racine Award in 2021 and was named to the "40 & Under List," - Competition/Antitrust (Northeast) in 2023 by Benchmark Litigation.  

Ms. McKee Vassallo is a magna cum laude graduate of the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law where she received the Order of the Coif and served as a Note and Comment Editor for the Temple Law Review.  She is also a cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where she was a Member of the Pi Gamma Mu Honor Society.

Ms. McKee Vassallo has been admitted to the bar in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.