LOS ANGELES, Oct. 17 LAWFUEL – US Law News — Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce Debra Wong Yang, the United States Attorney for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, will join the firm as partner in the Los Angeles office.
At Gibson Dunn, Yang will co-chair the firm’s Crisis Management
Practice Group, along with Washington, D.C. partner Theodore B. Olson, the former Solicitor General of the United States, and New York partner Randy Mastro, the former New York Deputy Mayor of Operations. In addition, Yang will play a central role in the Business Crimes and Investigations Practice Group.
“Debra Wong Yang is one of the most respected U.S. Attorneys in the
country. She has done a remarkable job in leading the U.S. Attorney’s
Office in Los Angeles, which handles some of our Nation’s largest and most
difficult cases,” said Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. “She was
selected to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, a small
group of U.S. Attorneys that I consult on policy matters, and she served in
this and other capacities with great distinction. She is an energetic
leader and has an amazing ability to build connections with community
leaders at all levels.”
“We are thrilled to have Debra join the firm,” said Ken Doran, Managing
Partner of Gibson Dunn. “She is an extraordinarily accomplished lawyer. Her
national reputation, profile and experience make her perfectly suited to
play a leadership role in our firm’s widely acclaimed Crisis Management
practice.”
“As U.S. Attorney for the largest U.S. Attorney’s Office outside of
D.C. during a unique time in our nation’s history, Deb has accumulated a
wealth of experience that will be enormously helpful in handling the type
of matters that we handle in the Crisis Management group,” said Olson. “Her
experience will be highly relevant for these high-profile matters that may
require simultaneously managing criminal and civil litigation, internal
investigations, legislative and regulatory investigations, and intense
media scrutiny.”
“Deb will be a fantastic addition to the firm,” said Los Angeles
partner Tom Holliday, Co-Chair of the firm’s Business Crimes and
Investigations Practice Group. “Our white collar practice is exceptionally
active, and given the government’s continuing enforcement efforts, we
expect this practice to grow. Deb will add to our deep bench of former
Assistant U.S. Attorneys, including Rob Bonner, who also previously served
as the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles.”
Yang is the latest in a series of recent additions to this practice,
including Washington, D.C. partner Barry Goldsmith, formerly the top NASD
enforcement official, and New York partners Jim Walden and Orin Snyder,
both former Assistant U.S. Attorneys.
“I was fortunate to be able to serve my country as the United States
Attorney. The combination of being a litigation powerhouse and having a
comprehensive practice and strategy is what attracted me to Gibson Dunn,”
said Yang. “In particular, I found the firm’s Crisis Management Practice
Group to be an innovative way to address the complex problems facing
corporations. I am excited to add the skills and experience I have to
Gibson Dunn’s impressive resources.”
About Debra Wong Yang
In May 2002, Yang was appointed by President Bush to be the first
Asian- American woman to serve as a United States Attorney. As U.S.
Attorney for the Central District of California, Yang oversaw approximately
260 Assistant U.S. Attorneys who litigate criminal, civil and tax matters
in U.S. District Court. During her first year in office, her staff filed
483 cases of business fraud, for the first time surpassing the historically
busier New York U.S. Attorney’s Office.
During her tenure as U.S. Attorney, Yang was selected to serve on
President Bush’s Corporate Fraud Task Force and on the Department of
Justice’s Intellectual Property Task Force. She was appointed by the
Attorney General to sit on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, the
Intellectual Property Task Force and selected to chair the U.S. Attorney
General’s Advisory Committee on Cyber/Intellectual Property and the
Committee on Civil Rights. In 2005, she received the President’s Award for
Distinguished Leadership for Women in Federal Law Enforcement.
From 1997 to 2002, Yang served as a California state judge. She was
appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Courts in 1997 and became a member
of the Los Angeles Superior Court bench in 2000, serving for a year, as
Presiding Judge of the Hollywood courthouse. Prior to becoming a judge,
Yang served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for seven years in Los Angeles,
handling a number of high-profile trials. She has been an adjunct professor
for the University of Southern California Law School where she taught Trial Advocacy. She has also been an instructor at the National Institute of
Trial Advocacy and an instructor at California’s Judicial College. Yang was named one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California by the Los Angeles Daily
Journal in September 2006.
Yang received her law degree from Boston College Law School in 1985 and her bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College in 1981. She is a former law
clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lew.
About Gibson Dunn’s Crisis Management Practice
Gibson Dunn’s Crisis Management Practice Group offers a vital and
increasingly essential resource in today’s complex and threatening legal
environment. Led by Theodore B. Olson, former Solicitor General of the
United States, the group provides unparalleled legal and strategic advice
for responding to crises both inside and outside the courtroom, and they
have substantial experience operating in the public relations arena — a
skill set that has become essential to resolving the most serious and
fast-moving legal challenges.
It includes former federal prosecutors who specialize in internal
investigations and provide executives and audit committees the key legal
insights necessary to forge corporate strategy. It includes securities and labor lawyers experienced in responding to attacks upon pension, corporate- governance, and accounting practices. Its experienced litigators, including former judges, aggressively defend civil suits wherever they are filed, and pursue winning strategies at every level — if necessary, all the way to
the Supreme Court, where the Group’s lawyers have argued more than 60 cases involving issues of national and international significance. And its bipartisan team of specialists in legislative and public policy matters, including former Members of Congress and high-ranking officials drawn from government at both the federal and state levels, provides strategic counsel in addressing the legislative, regulatory, and public-relations aspects of any crisis.
About Gibson Dunn
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is a leading international law firm.
Consistently ranking among the world’s top law firms in industry surveys
and major publications, Gibson Dunn is distinctively positioned in today’s global marketplace with 800 lawyers and 13 offices, including Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Palo Alto, London, Paris,
Munich, Brussels, Orange County, Century City, Dallas and Denver. For more information, please visit http://www.gibsondunn.com.
Editor’s Note
Additional quote from John McKay, U.S. Attorney for the Western
District of Washington:
“Debra Wong Yang will be missed by her colleagues across the United
States. As U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, she earned a reputation as a
bright, dedicated and above all collegial prosecutor,” said John McKay,
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington. “We worked on
collaborative issues and problems that extended far beyond the Los Angeles
region. We wish her well in her new endeavors.”
