Stephanie Sessions Perkins, JD
Chief Risk and Legal Officer | General Counsel
How I deliver value to you
Leveraging more than 30 years of experience serving the accountancy profession nationwide, I am proud to apply compassion and experience to perpetuating the strategies needed to effectively minimize and manage risk. I oversee the firm’s legal and risk management departments and implement all aspects of the firm’s legal functions, assessing current and future legal, business, and regulatory matters. In addition, I assist leadership in setting, influencing, and executing the overall strategic direction of the firm to enhance overall client service and the success of our professionals.
I specialize in professional liability, regulatory defense, employment practices, transactional, and advisory services for CPA firms and have represented myriad clients in connection with federal and state regulatory investigations, like those initiated by various state Boards of Accountancy, the American Institute of Cerified Public Accountants, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Labor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and more.
Before joining MGO, I founded Perkins Law Group to create a different kind of law firm — one that capitalizes on big ideas, is fluent in both common and business sense, and consistently delivers excellent results. I also worked in the general counsel’s office of a Big 4 firm as a partner in a premier law firm providing accounting liability and regulatory defense and employment related representation and as the legal services manager at CAMICO Mutual Insurance Company, where I rendered legal and advisory services to CPAs across the country.
In addition to my work at MGO, I am a professor at UC Davis and Sacramento State University, where I teach students ranging from undergraduates to those working toward their masters. I also perform ethics, fraud, and loss prevention training for the accounting profession.
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Doctor of Law
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, B.A.; English Language and Literature/Letters
State Bar of California
U.S. District Court for the Northern, Eastern, Central, and Southern Districts of California
American Bar Association
Professional Liability Committee of the American Bar Association
Women Lawyers Association
Sacramento County Bar Association
Associations of Northern and Southern California Defense Council
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Non-CPA Associate Member
California Society of CPAs, Non-CPA Associate Member