Michael M. Farhang is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  Mr. Farhang is a member of the White Collar Defense and Investigations and Securities Litigation Practice Groups, and handles general civil and criminal matters in the Litigation Department.  He has specialized expertise in federal white collar criminal matters and federal court practice.

• The successful defense effort that obtained the complete dismissal with prejudice of the federal securities litigation involving allegations of stock option backdating in In re Computer Sciences Corporation Shareholder Derivative Litigation , CV 06-5288-MRP (C.D.Cal.), a case in which Gibson Dunn represented Computer Sciences Corporation, its current and former CEO's, and Board of Directors;
• The federal trial defense of former Fleishman Hillard executive Douglas Dowie, who was accused of defrauding municipal agencies, in United States v. Dowie and Stodder , CR 05-27 (C.D.Cal.);
• Representations of other corporate, senior management, and director clients in various state and federal securities suits involving allegations of options backdating; and
• The representation of a high-level U.S. Government official with respect to an ongoing federal grand jury investigation.

Mr. Farhang drafted the successful post-conviction motion before the Ninth Circuit in United States v. Dowie and Stodder that obtained a stay of the execution of sentence for Douglas Dowie based on substantial appellate questions. Mr. Farhang was also a part of the Gibson Dunn defense team that obtained a summary judgment ruling in a federal ERISA class action seeking approximately $65 million in damages, In re Syncor ERISA Litigation , 03-2446-RGK (C.D.Cal.). His civil litigation and arbitration experience includes proceedings involving accounting malpractice, unfair trade practices, and real estate issues. He has substantial experience with internal investigations on behalf of large corporate clients, as well as representations in the context of government investigations and voluntary disclosures. Mr. Farhang was named a Southern California Super Lawyer in the field of white collar criminal defense in both the February 2005 and February 2006 editions of Los Angeles Magazine , and he is also a member of the Los Angeles Criminal Justice Inn of Court.

Between 1996 and 2003, Mr. Farhang served as a federal prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice. Between 1996 and 1999, Mr. Farhang was an Honor Program Attorney at the Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he worked on counterterrorism and death penalty matters, criminal tax matters, and local prosecutions (through the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia). Between 1999 and 2003, Mr. Farhang served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California, where he specialized in white collar fraud prosecutions (including securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, and money laundering) in the Major Fraud section, and handled numerous investigations, trials, evidentiary hearings, and Ninth Circuit appellate matters. Mr. Farhang has tried approximately twenty-six cases to conclusion, and has substantial trial experience both in government and private practice. He was a recipient of both the U.S. Department of Justice Special Achievement Award and the U.S. Assistant Attorney General's Award for Furthering U.S. Interests Overseas based on work done during his time as a federal prosecutor.

Mr. Farhang also participated in overseas legal assignments for the Department of Justice. During May and June of 2003, Mr. Farhang served as part of a 13-member legal team (consisting of federal judges, prosecutors and public defenders) sent to Iraq to assist the Coalition Provisional Authority with reconstruction of the Iraqi judicial system. Mr. Farhang's work in Iraq included assessments of the court systems in Baghdad, al-Basrah, al-Naseriyyah, and other urban centers. In February and March of 1999, Mr. Farhang was part of a two-person prosecutorial assessment team sent to the West Bank and Gaza to research the criminal justice system in the Palestine Authority.

Mr. Farhang graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College, receiving an A.B. magna cum laude in Government and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in 1992. He received his Juris Doctor cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was a Developments/Comments Editor on the Harvard International Law Journal . He is the author of "Terrorism and Military Trials in Egypt: Presidential Decree No. 375 and the Consequences for Judicial Authority," 35 Harvard International Law Journal 225 (1994). Mr. Farhang served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable William J. Rea, U.S. District Judge, Central District of California in 1995-1996. He is a member of the California Bar and is admitted to practice in the Central District of California and the Ninth Circuit.

Mr. Farhang is also a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, and is a former Board Member (and current Advisory Board member) of the national Iranian-American Bar Association. Mr. Farhang currently serves as one of the two Pro Bono Coordinators for Gibson Dunn's Los Angeles office, and he also serves on the Board of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, a legal aid organization providing housing and family law assistance to low-income communities in East Los Angeles.

Mr. Farhang's additional recent publications include:

"Signs of a Nascent Democracy Appear to Be Emerging in Iraq ," Los Angeles Daily Journal, September 9, 2004

"Reconstructing Justice," Los Angeles Lawyer, July-August, 2004

"Handover of Power Transfers Risks As Well As Responsibility," Los Angeles Daily Journal, June 30, 2004

"Will Power-Sharing Accords Be Able to Hold Iraq Together," Los Angeles Daily Journal, May 27, 2004

"Jurists Who Will Judge Saddam Must Be Selected With Care," Los Angeles Daily Journal, April 1, 2004