Lena Cohen is a litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Her practice focuses on class actions and white collar defense and investigations.
Lena has represented and provided strategic counseling to large and small companies on a broad range of litigation and pre-litigation disputes, including false advertising, unfair competition, privacy, employment, antitrust, and consumer protection. She has won dismissals of multiple class actions and secured favorable settlements of others.
Lena has also represented a variety of companies and firms, including technology companies, asset management firms, and defense contractors, in investigations and potential regulatory actions initiated by the SEC, DOJ, California AG, and FTC. Given her dual practice, Lena has significant experience in parallel proceedings, encompassing civil, criminal, and regulatory components. She also has extensive expertise in streamlining and leveraging electronic discovery and forensics.
Representative Class Actions:
- Representing a technology company in parallel putative class action and arbitration proceedings relating to their employment practices.
- Representing a sports betting platform in parallel putative class action and mass arbitration proceedings relating to a data breach.
- Won a complete defense victory for a pest control company in its defense against multiple putative nationwide class actions alleging false advertising. Achieved dismissal of the fraud claim at the pleading stage, and dismissal of the breach of warranty claim at summary judgment after prevailing on a motion to exclude the plaintiff’s expert on multiple grounds.*
- Won a complete defense victory at the pleading stage for a global consumer products brand in a putative class action alleging deceptive advertising of a mass distributed consumer product.*
- Achieved favorable settlements for multiple California employers in wage and hour class actions.*
- Provided strategic counseling and due diligence analysis regarding pending and threatened class action litigation, including regarding risk and exposure analysis.*
Representative White Collar & Internal Investigations:
- Representing a carbon credit company in parallel investigations initiated by the SEC, DOJ, and CFTC.
- Represented a technology company in both an internal investigation and SEC investigation related to a deSPAC transaction.*
- Represented a federal contractor in a False Claims Act investigation.*
- Represented a healthcare services provider in an antitrust investigation initiated by the DOJ.*
- Represented multiple private equity portfolio companies in internal investigations involving alleged financial fraud, embezzlement, and other employee misconduct.*
Commercial Litigation:
- Won dismissal of claims against a federal contractor in a federal quiet title action related to misappropriated technology.*
- Represented federal contractor in litigation alleging tortious interference with contract.*
* Representations occurred prior to Lena joining Gibson Dunn.
Lena maintains an active pro bono practice and has focused her pro bono practice on civil rights cases. She is currently representing a California inmate regarding violations of her civil rights and other claims related to her mistreatment during and following her pregnancy in jail. Lena also successfully obtained class certification and favorable settlement for two classes against the City of Houston related to the City’s policy and practice of detaining individuals arrested without a warrant for unreasonable periods of time. The following year, she represented an individual against the City of Los Angeles for the wrongful seizure and sale of his vehicle in violation of his constitutional right and federal and state laws prohibiting disability discrimination, and successfully obtained a court order requiring the City to change its practices related to medical-related challenges to parking citations. Lena also serves as a member on Public Counsel’s Leadership Council.
Before joining Gibson Dunn, Lena was a litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Virginia A. Phillips and Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Lena received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2017, where she was a Dean’s Merit Scholarship recipient and the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the UCLA Criminal Justice Law Review. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with Honors from the University of Chicago.
Lena is a member of the State Bar of California and is admitted to practice law before the United States District Court for the Central District of California, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and the United States Courts of Appeal for the Fifth and Sixth Circuits.
Capabilities
- Class Actions
- Antitrust and Competition
- Litigation
- Media, Entertainment, and Technology
- Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Data Innovation
- Tech and Innovation
- White Collar Defense and Investigations
Credentials
Education:
- University of California - Los Angeles - 2017 Juris Doctor
- University of Chicago - 2010 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- California Bar
Clerkships:
- USDC, Central District of California, Hon. Virginia A. Phillips, 2017 - 2018
- USDC, Southern District of California, Beverly Reid O'Connell, 2017