Legal News

California has 10 of the 50 most influential minority lawyers in America

By Jason Siegel

Ten of the 50 most influential minority lawyers in the country are in California, The National Law Journal reported.

The top 50 minority lawyers were selected by NLJ editors after sifting through readers' nominations of candidates who've had a national impact in their legal fields in past five years.

Among those selected in Los Angeles:

Morgan Chu
57, Irell & Manella

A leading intellectual property litigator, Chu leads the charge at national powerhouse Irell with major verdicts, including $74 million for TiVo Inc. in a 2006 patent infringement case in Texas federal court and a $500 million jury award in 2002 for City of Hope Hospital against Genentech Inc., one of the largest intellectual property verdicts recorded. In 2004 and 2005, Chu led six Irell teams to victory in four trials, one arbitration and one appeal, including an $82 million jury verdict for Immersion Corp. against Sony Computer Entertainment. In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed TiVo's 2006 jury verdict win.

Debra Wong Yang
48, Gibson Dunn

Being pushed out of her job as U.S. attorney for the Central District of California last year sure hasn't done anything to damage Yang's professional reputation. To the contrary, allegations that Yang and several colleagues were victims of a political purge was one of the factors that cost former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales his job. Yang, who in 2002 was the first Asian-American woman to be appointed a U.S. attorney, and who was widely respected in that role, landed at Gibson. There, she co-chairs the firm's crisis management practice group alongside senior partners Theodore B. Olson and Randy Mastro. Yang co-chairs the white-collar defense group as well, and somehow finds time to parlay her prosecution background to counsel media and securities litigation clients. In November, Yang was chosen for the Committee of 100, an international organization that promotes good relations between the United States and China.

Alejandro Mayorkas
48, O'Melveny & Myers

Mayorkas is a partner in O'Melveny & Myers' white-collar defense and corporate investigations practice. He was the youngest federal prosecutor in the nation when appointed U.S. attorney in Los Angeles in 1998. Since joining the firm in 2001, he has represented major corporations in high-stakes civil actions and federal investigations. He chairs the American Bar Association's ethics and professionalism committee and serves on the board of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, which provides pro bono representation to the indigent. His pro bono docket at O'Melveny focuses on foster children and disadvantaged youth.

Brian A. Sun
53, Jones Day

Sun specializes in complex business litigation and white-collar criminal defense. He served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, later moving to the Justice Department in Washington to lead a multiagency federal task force targeting sophisticated money laundering operations. Sun later testified before Congress and helped draft legislation to combat money laundering. In private practice, he has distinguished himself representing a wide range of businesses and individuals in court and before administrative agencies, while his criminal practice encompasses the full panoply of business crimes. In one notable case, Sun was lead counsel in a civil action against the federal government brought by former Los Alamos nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee, alleging unlawful leaks concerning the government's discredited prosecution of Lee for espionage. Sun won a $1.645 million judgment against the government and several major media organizations.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on May 27, 2008 (boomark / email).