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Perham Gorji was a career government lawyer, helping to lead the Food and Drug Administration’s battle against tobacco and e-cigarettes.
He was there as the agency contemplated a ban on menthol cigarettes, and as vapes of all shapes and sizes flooded the market, hooking a new generation on nicotine.
Last year, Gorji followed a well-trodden path for Washington, D.C. lawyers. He traded his government job for a high-paying position in private practice, working on behalf of clients who want an insider’s view on how to navigate the FDA — and in some cases, on how to dismantle and weaken regulations they don’t like.
Gorji joined DLA Piper, one of the biggest law firms in the world, as a litigation partner, adding to its FDA team, which gives “strategic counseling and advocacy” to tobacco companies and other industries overseen by the agency.
One of his new clients is tobacco heavyweight Philip Morris International, which is seeking FDA approval of its latest iteration of IQOS, a smoking device that heats, rather than burns, tobacco.
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