Gibson Dunn Launches State Attorneys General Task Force
Firm News | May 13, 2025
With State Attorneys General becoming an increasingly active source of enterprise-threatening investigations and litigation, Gibson Dunn is bringing together its unique blend of Attorney General experience and subject matter expertise to launch a specialized State Attorneys General Task Force. This Task Force will assist clients in navigating the unique challenges these matters pose that are impacting every major U.S. industry.
“State Attorneys General are increasingly taking a more expansive, sophisticated, and comprehensive approach to pursuing investigations and litigation, at times, leveraging the expertise of private plaintiffs’ counsel,” said Mylan Denerstein, former Executive Deputy Attorney General in the New York Attorney General’s Office and Co-Chair of the firm’s Public Policy Practice Group and a member of the Task Force.
“Our multidisciplinary team includes members who have held senior roles in State Attorneys General offices, as well as many former prosecutors with vast experience handling government investigations, and we are well-poised to assist our clients in all aspects of these matters,” added Nick Hanna, a Task Force member who Co-Chairs the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group.
The Task Force will leverage the firm’s premier investigations practice and subject matter expertise in areas including consumer protection; data privacy; employment; antitrust and unfair competition; artificial intelligence; diversity, equity and inclusion; environmental, social and governance; products liability; state false claims acts and government contracting; and securities.
“Businesses are facing an increasingly complex landscape of state-level scrutiny, and our Task Force is designed to provide a cohesive and strategic approach to addressing the evolving landscape of AG enforcement,” said Debra Wong Yang, Co-Chair of the firm’s Crisis Management Practice Group and a member of the Task Force.
Christopher Chorba, Co-Chair of the firm’s Class Actions Practice Group and a member of the Task Force, commented: “Our team has handled State Attorneys General cases across the country, providing us with a deep understanding of the various state investigatory and litigation cycles of these multifaceted and high-stakes matters. We will continue supporting our clients in these matters.”
The Task Force will keep clients up to date on the latest developments and significant emerging trends across the states. “In areas like data privacy and online child safety, we are seeing a profound shift of high-stakes enforcement from federal agencies to State Attorneys General offices—for instance, around half of the U.S. will be covered by a state comprehensive privacy law by 2026 while there remains no comprehensive federal legislation,” said Ashley Rogers, Co-Chair of the firm’s Consumer Protection Practice Group and a member of the Task Force. “That shift presents significant challenges for companies that are likely to face increasingly complex and sometimes contradictory demands from state regulators on topics like online content moderation.”
To help keep regulated parties up to speed on these trends, the Task Force will offer a suite of resources, including client alerts on emerging topics of AG enforcement, interactive webinars, and live sessions providing opportunities for direct engagement. In addition to Mylan, Nick, Debra, Christopher, and Ashley, the members of the Task Force are Winston Chan, Gregg Costa, Collin Cox, Trey Cox, Stuart Delery, Mylan Denerstein, Theane Evangelis, Gustav Eyler, Natalie Hausknecht, Allyson Ho, Poonam Kumar, Rachel Levick, Vivek Mohan, Jonathan Phillips, Tina Samanta, Jason Schwartz, Prerak Shah, Katherine Smith, Eric Stock, Eric Vandevelde, Frances Waldmann, and Jim Zelenay. The team includes partners across the firm’s U.S. offices, including California, Colorado, Texas, New York, and Washington, D.C.