Sarah H. Roberts is an associate in the San Francisco office of Gibson Dunn. She is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department.
She earned her Juris Doctor, with Honors, from The University of Chicago Law School in 2024. While at the University of Chicago, Sarah was the Executive Comments Editor of the Business Law Review, the co-director of the Law School Musical, and worked with Eric A. Posner on antitrust research and publications. She also represented clients in eviction court as a clinical student in the Poverty and Housing Law Clinic, and her pro bono practice at the firm emphasizes issues related to housing access.
Sarah earned her bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2020, where she graduated magna cum laude with the Department Citation. Prior to attending law school, Sarah taught middle and high school in the South Bay.
Sarah is admitted to practice law in California.
Rachel S. Brass is a partner in the San Francisco office of Gibson Dunn and co-chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice Group. She is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department where her practice focuses on investigations and litigation in the antitrust, labor, and employment areas. Rachel has extensive experience representing international and domestic clients in high-stakes appellate litigation in the Supreme Court, as well as federal and state appellate courts throughout the United States.
Rachel’s antitrust and competition experience includes litigation and trial of indirect and direct purchaser class actions, trial of price fixing, collusion and monopolization claims, international and domestic cartel investigations, mergers and acquisitions, and other antitrust investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, United States Department of Justice, the States Attorney Generals, European Commission, Canadian Competition Bureau, Korean Fair Trade Commission, Japan Fair Trade Commission, Administrative Council for Economic Defense – CADE, and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Rachel has represented clients in a number of industries, including semiconductors, health care, insurance, hardware, software, telecommunications, and other high technology, auto parts, package delivery, transportation, logistics, agriculture, and retail, among others. She has significant experience in international matters and for seven years taught an upper-level course in International Antitrust Law at Berkeley Law School.
In addition to her international competition practice, Rachel has successfully represented companies in single plaintiff and class action Title VII, ADA, FEHA and Unruh Act discrimination claims, as well as wage and hour class actions. Representative matters include persuading the United States Supreme Court to reverse the certification of the largest class action brought under Title VII; litigating the scope of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protections; persuading the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to vacate the certification of the largest class action brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act on interlocutory review; obtaining clarification of the standards for the business necessity defense and vacatur of a district court’s adverse post-trial rulings under the Americans with Disabilities Act from the en banc Ninth Circuit; and obtaining and sustaining a favorable district court ruling rejecting plaintiffs’ counsel’s claim for attorney’s fees in a California Fair Employment & Housing Act case.
Rachel is consistently recognized for her outstanding antitrust work by leading professional publications. In 2022, Law360 named her a Competition MVP, highlighting her successful defense at the class certification stage in major “no poach” litigation involving fast-food franchises, as well as her victory for Apple in the Epic Games litigation. Legal 500 U.S. recognized Rachel as a “Leading Lawyer” for Antitrust: Civil Litigation/Class Action Defense. Additionally, she was named to Who’s Who Legal Competition in 2023 and 2024. Expert Guides included her in its 2022 Guide to the World’s Leading Women in Business Law. Global Competition Review listed Rachel among its “Top 100 Women in Antitrust” in 2021, while the Daily Journal has recognized her on its “Top Antitrust Lawyers” list every year from 2020 to 2023. She was also featured in Lawdragon‘s “500 Leading Litigators in America” (2023-2025) and “500 Leading Antitrust and Competition Lawyers” for 2025. In 2019, Women Competition Professionals in the Americas honored Rachel as one of their “40 in Their 40s.” In its annual Top Verdicts of California 2018 feature, the Daily Journal recognized Rachel for her complete defense jury verdict, a first of its kind class action trial of direct and indirect purchaser antitrust claims. In 2018, she was selected by The American Lawyer as a “Litigator of the Week” in connection with that same win. Rachel has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® in Litigation-Antitrust since 2013, identified in the Antitrust category by Super Lawyers, and ranked in Band 1 in the California Antitrust category by Chambers USA. Concurrences Review recognized Rachel at its 2017 Antitrust Writing Awards for her article “Practical Advice for Avoiding Hub-and-Spoke Liability,” which was selected as the winner in the Business category, Concerted Practices section. The article originally appeared in the October 2016 issue of The Antitrust Source.
Rachel speaks regularly on antitrust and complex class action issues, including programs for the United States Department of Justice, The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the American Bar Association, the State Bar of California, the State Bar of Arizona, the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, and the Bar Association of San Francisco. She is the immediate past-President of the Northern California Chapter of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and serves on the Board of Directors of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), an organization that protects unaccompanied children who enter the US immigration system alone to ensure that no child appears in court without an attorney. She is on the Advisory Board of the University of Minnesota Law School. She served as Editor-in-Chief of the Antitrust Report from 2008 to 2016.
Rachel received her law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota in 2001. She was Editor-in-Chief of the Minnesota Journal of Global Trade, a member of the Order of the Coif, and recipient of the Ralph M. McCareins Antitrust Prize. Prior to joining the firm, Rachel served as a law clerk for the Honorable James M. Rosenbaum, United States District Court, District of Minnesota. Rachel graduated summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Rachel is admitted to practice in the State of California. She is a member of the firm’s Hiring, Professional Development, and Bay Area Diversity Committees, and maintains an active pro bono practice representing clients in cases involving civil rights, immigration, and other matters.
Romain Tourenne is an associate in the London office of Gibson Dunn and a member of the Private Equity, Mergers and Acquisitions and Capital Markets practice groups.
He has experience acting on a broad range of private equity and corporate matters, including acquisitions, capital markets transactions and general corporate work.
Romain trained and qualified as a solicitor at another international law firm, where he also gained experience with the firm’s real estate finance and competition groups.
He is a French national and regularly advises on transactions involving French buyers, sellers, target companies and issuers.
Selected experience:*
- KKR on its investment and follow-on investment in music platform Artlist in Israel, and on Artlist’s acquisition of Motion Array in the U.S.
- KKR on its control investment in Biosynth Carbosynth, a life sciences reagents and custom synthesis and manufacturing services company headquartered in Switzerland and several bolt-on acquisitions by Biosynth Carbosynth.
- KKR on its investment in Ornikar, a European provider of road safety education.
- KKR on its participation in a US$530 million funding round in Wolt, a leading European food delivery business based in Finland.
- KKR on its acquisition of Argenta, a leading animal pharmaceutical research and manufacturing company.
- Fnac Darty S.A., a leading European retailer of consumer electronics, editorial products, and household appliances, in connection with its offering of €300 million 1.875% Senior Notes due 2024 and €350 million 2.625% Senior Notes due 2026.
- Goldman Sachs on its investment in tech platform LumApps.
*Some of these representations occurred prior to Romain’s association with Gibson Dunn.
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Stewart L. McDowell is a partner in the San Francisco and New York offices of Gibson Dunn where she is Co-Chair of the firm’s Capital Markets Practice Group. Stewart represents companies, investors and underwriters in a variety of complex capital markets transactions, including IPOs, convertible and non-convertible debt and preferred equity offerings, PIPEs and liability management transactions. She also represents companies in connection with U.S. and cross-border M&A and strategic investments, SEC reporting, corporate governance and general corporate matters. Awards and Accolades:
Representative Clients and Transactions:
Stewart received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995 and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1991. |
Katie Townsend is a Partner in the Los Angeles area and Washington, D.C. offices of Gibson Dunn, and a member of the firm’s Litigation and Media, Entertainment & Technology Practice groups. An accomplished litigator with extensive experience in media and First Amendment law, Katie’s practice focuses on representing and advising individual and corporate clients in the media, entertainment, and technology industries.
Katie returned to Gibson Dunn in 2025, after serving as the Deputy Executive Director & Legal Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, where she oversaw the non-profit organization’s legal services portfolio, including its amicus curiae practice and the litigation and legal advising work of Reporters Committee attorneys. In that role, she represented the Reporters Committee, news organizations, and individual journalists, including documentary filmmakers, in media and First Amendment litigation in state and federal courts across the country at both the trial and appellate levels.
Katie began her legal career as an Associate at Gibson Dunn, where she represented media and non-media clients alike, including major entertainment studios, in contract disputes, intellectual property disputes involving claims of copyright and trademark infringement, and disputes involving claims of defamation and compelled speech.
Recent Representative Experience*:
- Obtained landmark federal appellate decision establishing a presumption of public access to warrant applications and other judicial records in Stored Communications Act and Pen Register Act matters (In re Application of Jason Leopold to Unseal Certain Electronic Surveillance Applications and Orders, 964 F.3d 1121 (D.C. Cir. 2020)).
- Secured favorable, leading federal appellate decision interpreting the “foreseeable harm” provision of the federal Freedom of Information Act (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and The Associated Press v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, et al. 3 F.4th 350 (D.C. Cir. 2021)).
- Secured the dismissal of defamation claims against a journalist under the D.C. Anti-SLAPP Act.
- Secured the dismissal of defamation and other claims against a media organization under California’s anti-SLAPP law.
- Represented a news organization in its successful First Amendment challenge to a Connecticut state law barring press and public access to certain criminal trials and judicial records (Hartford Courant Company v. Carroll, 986 F.3d 211 (2d Cir. 2021)).
- Secured a federal appellate decision in favor of a coalition of journalists and historians seeking to obtain access to transcripts from a historically significant WWII-era grand jury investigation (Carlson v. United States, 837 F.3d 753 (7th Cir. 2016)).
- Representing a coalition of media organizations, obtained a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of an Indiana state law that burdened newsgathering on constitutional grounds.
- Defeated an agency’s attempt to charge a reporter more than $174,000 to obtain records he had requested under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
- Obtained groundbreaking civil rights settlement on behalf of public radio journalist wrongfully arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies while covering a protest.
- Successfully represented broadcast journalist in civil rights lawsuit arising out of his wrongful arrest covering a press conference in Ohio.
- Secured the reversal of a federal district court order denying a news organization’s motion to unseal search warrant materials from government investigation of a U.S. Senator.
- Successfully defended individual, non-party journalists against subpoenas seeking source information and other journalistic work product in state and federal matters, including under California state law.
In May 2014, Katie was named a “Rising Star”—one of the nation’s top media and entertainment attorneys under the age of 40—by Law360. In 2015, The National Law Journal recognized her as a Washington, D.C. “Rising Star,” and that same year, the Hollywood Reporter named her part of the “Next Gen—Hollywood’s Up-and-Coming Execs 35 and Under.” Since 2022, she has been recognized by Washingtonian magazine as one of “Washington, DC’s Top Lawyers: First Amendment and Media.
Katie is a Member of the Governing Board of the American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the advisory committee for the Council for Court Excellence’s Bench-Bar-Media Dialogue. She has served as a member of the International Documentary Association’s Enterprise Documentary Fund Advisory Committee, and as a Member of the Steering Committee, Steering Committee Co-Chair, and Chair of the Media Law Committee of the Arts, Entertainment, Media, and Sports Law Community of the DC Bar.
Katie received her J.D. in 2007 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served on the Virginia Law Review editorial board. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Florida in 2005 with a B.A. in English and a B.S. in Telecommunications – News.
Katie is admitted to practice law in California, New York, and the District of Columbia.
*Includes matters handled prior to joining Gibson Dunn
Sally Gamboa is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn. She practices in the firm’s Litigation Department.
Sally earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. She was an editor for the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy and Programmatic Events Chair for the Federalist Society.
Sally graduated summa cum laude with Highest Honors in English from Grove City College. She was president of the Lambda Iota Tau Literary Honorary, and her poetry was frequently published in The Quad literary magazine. She also completed a course of focused study on John Donne’s Holy Sonnets during a semester at the University of Oxford.
Sally is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband and children.
Mary Boci is an associate in the New York office of Gibson Dunn, where she is a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group.
Mary received a J.D. from Columbia Law School. She also received a B.A. from Fordham University, where she majored in Psychology.
Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Mary was an associate at another major global law firm. She is admitted to practice in the State of New York.
Benjamin A. Blefeld is an associate in the Houston office of Gibson Dunn, where he currently practices in the firm’s Transactional Department with a focus on Capital Markets, Mergers & Acquisitions, Investment Funds, and Corporate Restructurings.
Benjamin earned his J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center, graduating magna cum laude and as a member in the Orders of the Coif and Barons. While attending law school, he served as an Articles Editor for the Houston Law Review and worked as a corporate law research assistant for Professor Douglas Moll. In 2020, Benjamin received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Texas, graduating with honors.
Selected Representative Experience
Benjamin has had significant responsibility for the following matters:
Capital Markets
Equity
- Represented Jefferies LLC and Johnson Rice & Company L.L.C. in Berry Corporation’s $50 million ATM program. (2025)
- $2.2 billion secondary offering of stock of Diamondback Energy as counsel for the Legacy Endeavor Owners as selling stockholders (representing the largest secondary equity offering in oil and gas industry). (2024)
- Represented Barclays Capital in Western Midstream Partners, LP’s secondary equity offering for $697 million of common units traded on the NYSE. (2024)
Debt
- Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P.’s tack-on notes offering of $100 million of 9.75% Senior Notes due in 2028. (2025)
- Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P.’s notes exchange of $354 million for all of its 11.00% senior notes due 2025 for newly issued 11.00% senior notes due in 2026. (2024)
- Phillips 66 Company’s senior notes offering of $1.8 billion. (2024)
- Represented Barclays Capital and other dealer managers in Waste Management’s bond exchange in a $500 million private exchange offer of 3.875% senior notes due 2029, issued by Stericycle, Inc., for 3.875% senior notes due 2029. (2024)
- Represented TD Securities and other underwriters in Western Midstream Operating, LP’s notes offering of $792 million for its 5.450% Senior Notes due in 2034. (2024)
M&A
- Dril-Quip, a developer, manufacturer, and provider of highly engineered equipment, service and innovative technologies for use in the energy industry, on its merger with Innovex Downhole Solutions. (2024)
- SilverBow Resources in its $2.1 billion sale to Crescent Energy. (2024)
Investment Funds
- Representing private equity firms in the formation of their Luxembourg investment funds.
Corporate Restructuring
- Representing publicly traded entities in connection with their corporate restructurings and reorganizations.
Benjamin is admitted to practice in the State of Texas.
Barbara L. Becker is Chair and Managing Partner of Gibson Dunn. Prior to her election to this role, Barbara served as Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group for over a decade, and also created and led the firmwide Diversity Committee.
In her practice, Barbara continues to advise companies on significant business and legal issues, including mergers and acquisitions (both domestic and cross-border), spin-offs, joint ventures, and general corporate matters. She also advises boards of directors and special committees of public companies, and represents corporations (based in and outside of the United States) and other investors in their M&A activities.
An elite M&A lawyer, Barbara has been recognized by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Crain’s New York Business, IFLR1000, Law360, Lawdragon, New York Law Journal, The AmLaw Daily, The Best Lawyers in America®, The Deal, The Legal 500 US, The National Law Journal, and Who’s Who Legal, among other publications and outlets. She was also named Managing Partner of the Year at the 2023 American Lawyer Industry Awards, and received the 2022 AJC Judge Learned Hand Award.
Barbara serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at New York University School of Law (Executive Committee), an inaugural member of the Advisory Board for the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at New York University School of Law, a member of the Welcome.US CEO Council, and a member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. She is also a former Chair of the New York City Bar’s Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Control Contests Committee.
Barbara earned her Juris Doctor in 1988 from New York University School of Law. She received her undergraduate degree in 1985 from Wesleyan University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Colleen Bazak is an associate in the Century City office of Gibson Dunn. She currently practices with the firm’s Transactional Department.
Colleen earned her Juris Doctor in 2019 from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. While in law school, she served as a Senior Submission Editor of the Southern California Law Review and was a member of the Small Business Clinic. Colleen graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
Colleen is admitted to practice in the State of California.
Adam M. Smith is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn and serves as co-chair of the firm’s International Trade Advisory and Enforcement, as well as the Sanctions and Export Enforcement Practice Groups. He is an experienced international lawyer with a focus on international trade compliance and white collar investigations, including federal and state economic sanctions enforcement, tariffs, CFIUS, embargoes, export and import controls, and anti-bribery/anti-corruption regulations.
Chambers USA and Chambers Global consistently rank Adam as a leading attorney in International Trade: Export Controls & Economic Sanctions. In those publications, clients describe Adam as “a terrific resource for clients” and a “reassuring lawyer in a complex area of law.” Most recently, Legal 500 US 2024 named Adam a “Leading Lawyer” in International trade: Customs, export controls and economic sanctions. Global Investigations Review has named him to its “25 Most Respected Sanctions Lawyers in Washington, D.C.” list, which features individuals who work on the most significant cases. The Best Lawyers in America® recognizes him for International Trade and Finance Law. Who’s Who Legal regularly recognizes him as a Thought Leader for Trade & Customs, International Sanctions, and in its Global Elite Guide.
Clients benefit from Adam’s experience in the Obama Administration, where he was Senior Advisor to the Director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Director for Multilateral Affairs on the National Security Council. At OFAC, he was instrumental in shaping and enforcing sanctions policies, briefing Congressional and private sector leaders, conducting extensive international outreach, and negotiating complex agreements. On the National Security Council, he advised the President on international sanctions, coordinated inter-agency efforts, and developed strategies to counter corruption and promote asset recovery.
Representative Engagements
- Successfully represented a regional financial institution before OFAC and other agencies in responding to a subpoena following revelations of potentially sanctionable conduct.
- Assisted U.S. branch of a foreign financial institution in successfully responding to multi-agency regulatory inquiries and examinations.
- Ongoing sanctions representation for major corporation addressing multi-agency civil and criminal enforcement.
- Advised the board of directors of major financial institution in addressing sanctions governance short-falls and assisted the bank in developing robust policies, procedures, and training protocols.
- Providing ongoing sanctions, anti-corruption, and AML compliance advice to major financial institutions, Fortune 500 manufacturers, and insurers.
- Overhauled sanctions compliance oversight and processes at a major e-payments company.
- Retained by a Fortune 100 manufacturer to conduct an internal FCPA investigation and provided sanctions advice in the context of a proposed deal.
- Worked with a major manufacturer to obtain regulatory approvals for sale of products into high-risk jurisdiction and to manage ongoing licensing and compliance issues.
- Retained by a major cybercurrency enterprise to develop compliance procedures and engage with regulators.
Clients, governments, academia, and other law firms regularly seek Adam’s advice. He is a prominent thought leader, and his analysis regularly appears in print and broadcast media, including in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on BBC and NPR. He is the author of three legal texts and dozens of articles and book chapters, has testified before the U.S. Congress and the U.K. Parliament, and is a frequent presenter at industry, governmental, and academic conferences globally.
Adam is a 2006 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School where he was a Chayes Fellow, the recipient of the Laylin Prize for the best work in international law, and the Senior Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics, and an MPhil in Politics from Oxford University in 1998 where he was the Seaton Scholar in Politics at St. Hugh’s College. Following law school, Adam served as a law clerk for the Honorable James Baker on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Adam subsequently practiced for more than three years at a major international law firm in Washington, D.C., where he advised clients on trade policy, national security, regulatory reform and risk, FCPA, and international investment. He has also held postings with the United Nations in New York, the World Bank / IFC in Washington, D.C. and abroad, and the OECD in France.
Select Recent Publications
Since 2006, Adam has been a frequent presenter to industry and academic audiences on international economic and national security matters, and is the author of numerous articles, book chapters, and three books.
- “What to Expect on Tariffs and Related Risks,” Financier Worldwide, May, 2025, pg. 115-118
- “Keeping Sanctions ‘Smart’: Calibrating U.S. Sanctions Policy to Overcome Overcompliance,” North Carolina Journal of International Law, Vol. 48(3), Summer, 2023
- “United States Expands Sanctions Authorization of Internet-Based Activities in Wake of Protests in Iran,” NYU Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, October 17, 2022
- “The View from the United States,” Navigating the Global Sanctions Landscape in 2022, Control Risks
- SWIFT and Certain Punishment for Russia? There Are Better Ways to Deter Moscow than Threatening its Banking Access, Foreign Affairs, January 4, 2022
Select Recent Speaking Engagements
- Panelist, “Trump Administration Policy Implications on Sanctions,” Society for International Affairs conference on Trade Implications During Times of Increased Geopolitical Tension, Washington, D.C., May 21, 2025.
- Speaker, World50, CEO Kitchen Cabinet – Early Trump Administration Policies and Priorities, May 21, 2025.
- Speaker, National Association of Corporate Directors, The First 100 Days & Beyond: What Board Members Need to Know, Houston, Texas, May 14, 2025.
- Speaker, A View from the Private Sector, Workshop on Sanctions-Lifting Conditions for Conflict Resolution and Sustainable Peace, Geneva Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland, May 5-6, 2025.
- Presenter, “Audit and Sanctions Evasion: Looking Through a Risk-Based Lens,” ACAMS Assembly, Hollywood, Florida, April 29, 2025
- Speaker, PE 141: Terrorism Finance and Economic Sanctions, Sanctions Primer, Foreign Service Institute of the United States, April 14, 2025, Washington, DC
- Lecture, “International Trade in the Second Trump Administration: Sanctions, Tariffs, and More, Oh My,” University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Philadelphia, PA, April 10, 2025
- Speaker, “Pathways for Sanctions Relief, Reconstruction and Governance in Syria,” Clingendael Institute, The Hague, Netherlands, March 17, 2025
- Speaker, “International Trade in the Second Trump Administration: Expectations, Possibilities and Opportunities,” Abu Dhabi/Dubai, UAE, February 26-27, 2025
- Panelist, “International Trade and Anti-Corruption—The Evolving Landscape of Extraterritorial Regulation,” Saudi International Disputes Week, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 24, 2025
- Speaker, “Masterclass: Predictions for the Global Sanctions Landscape in 2025,” ACAMS Webinar, February 20, 2025
- Speaker, “Russia Sanctions: US and non-US Perspectives,” at the Coping with U.S. Export Controls and Sanctions 2024 Conference, Washington, DC, December 9, 2024
- Speaker, “Global Magnitsky, Targeted Sanctions and UFLPA: Lessons Learned,” at the 14th Annual New York Forum on Economic Sanctions, New York, NY, December 5, 2024
- Presenter, “International Trade Issues in the Second Trump Administration,” G100 Chief Executive Summit, New York, NY November 17, 2024
- Invited Speaker, “Protecting the Maritime Industry from DPRK Illicit Activities – Understanding Sanctions,” Presentation to Taiwanese Industry, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, November 4, 2024
- Invited Speaker, “NGL Skill Series – International Trade Issues Corporate Leaders Need to Know,” World 50 Organization, October 30, 2024
- Lead Speaker, “Sanctions and Export Controls: Key Regulatory and Enforcement Trends,” Gibson Dunn Webcast, October 17, 2024
- Speaker / Moderator, “Navigating Global Sanctions and AML Risk,” Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, October 7, 2024
- Moderator, “Introduction to US Sanctions,” Association of Corporate Counsel, September 5, 2024
- Taskforce Member, “RUSI UK Sanctions Taskforce Meeting,” London, UK, June 25, 2024
- Speaker, Sanctions and Reinsurance Industry, Singapore Association of Reinsurers, Singapore, June 4, 2024
- Invited Presenter, ACAMS Sanctions May 2024 Monthly Update, May 31, 2024
- Invited Lecturer, “Sanctions 101 and Sanctions Compliance,” U.S. State Department – Foreign Service Institute, Washington, D.C., April 29, 2024
- Speaker, “A View from a Sanctions Lawyer,” Maritime Sanctions Roundtable, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Limassol, Cyprus, March 27, 2024
- Lecturer, “Sanctions and Export Controls 101,” University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, PA, March 21, 2024
- Panelist, PLI: Coping with U.S. Export Controls and Sanctions, “Russia Sanctions: U.S. and non-U.S. Perspectives,” Washington, D.C., December 14, 2023
- Witness, United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services – Sub-Committee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions, “Restricting Rogue-State Revenue: Strengthening Energy Sanctions on Russia, Iran, and Venezuela,” December 12, 2023
- Invited Lecturer, National Security Law, “Sanctions – Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?” New York University School of Law, New York, NY, November 28, 2023
- Panelist, “Reverse CFIUS” – The Emerging Restrictions on U.S. Outbound Investments, Harvard Law School Association, Washington, D.C., November 2, 2023
- Co-Moderator, “National Security, Sanctions and Export Controls Conference,” New York, NY, October 11, 2023
- “Economic Sanctions and National Security,” Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, October 6, 2023
- Speaker, ACAMS Monthly Sanctions Update – “Reverse” CFIUS, Inbound Real Estate Restrictions, Voluntary Self-Disclosure Considerations, September 13, 2023
- Keynote Speaker, Countering a Taiwan Crisis with Economics, United States Studies Center, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, August 17, 2023
- Invited Speaker, U.S. Sanctions and Export Controls: From Russia to China and Beyond, American-Australian Chamber of Commerce, Melbourne, Australia, August 16, 2023
- Invited Speaker, “An Introduction to Sanctions – From Russia to China and Beyond,” Osgood Center at the Elliot School, American University, Washington, D.C., August 4, 2023
- Speaker, “A View from the Private Sector,” Sanctions Roundtable for Greek Shipping, U.S. State Department / Middlebury Institute of International Studies / North Standard P&I Club, Athens, Greece, May 23, 2023
- Speaker, “Sanctions and Export Controls for the Shipping Sector,” Presentations to Ship Owners, Piraeus, Greece, May 24, 2023
- Panelist, “Implications of Sanctions Against Russia,” European Central Bank / Harvard Law School Symposium on Building the Financial System of the 21st Century, European Central Bank, Frankfurt, Germany, May 11, 2023
- Invited Speaker, “America at a Crossroads: Sanctions, Boycotts, and Economic Warfare – Do They Work?” JUDJ / Community Advocates, Los Angeles, CA, May 3, 2023
- Presenter, Association of Corporate Counsel – Hong Kong, “Russian Sanctions Update for Multinational Corporations – The Russian Oil Price Cap,” Hong Kong SAR, April 26, 2023
- Lecturer, “Sanctions 101: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?,” University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, PA, April 20, 2023
- Panelist, “Sanctions and Export Controls: Regulatory Defense Considerations,” Georgetown Law Center, Washington, D.C., April 18, 2023
- Invited Speaker, “Understanding Sanctions and Export Controls on China,” Bank of America Emerging Markets Symposium – World Bank / IMF Spring Meetings 2023, Washington, D.C., April 13, 2023
- Invited Speaker, “Sanctions Overcompliance – The Private Sector’s Rationales for, and the Consequences of, Overcompliance,” North Carolina Journal of International Law 2023 Symposium: Sanctions After the Invasion of Ukraine, Chapel Hill, NC, March 24, 2023
- Panelist, ACAMS Sanctions Masterclass: Jurisdiction and Sanctions Regimes, February 28, 2023
- Panelist, Gibson Dunn webcast, “Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering and Sanctions Enforcement and Compliance Update,” February 28, 2023
- Panelist, AML and OFAC / Sanctions Enforcement Update, Tax Enforcement Without Borders, Bahamas Financial Services Board, Industry Development Series Seminar, Nassau, Bahamas, February 16, 2023
- Keynote Speaker, Economic Sanctions and Trade Controls in 2023, Gibson Dunn Presentation to French Industry, Paris, France, January 30, 2023
- Invited Speaker, Wirtschaftsbeirat Bayern Startseite (Bavarian Economic Advisory Board), Sanctions and Export Controls: Dealing with the Tsunami to Come, Munich, Germany, January 27, 2023
Jim Zelenay is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson Dunn where he practices in the firm’s Litigation and White Collar Departments. Jim has extensive experience representing clients in high-stakes commercial disputes, and in defending clients in class actions, government regulatory matters, False Claims Act litigation, and other civil and administrative disputes. Jim also has substantial experience in assisting clients with white collar investigations and in responding to government subpoenas.
Known for his detail-oriented approach, persuasive advocacy, and courtroom presence, Jim has a proven track record of successfully defending Fortune 500 companies in federal and state courts nationwide. Jim brings strategic insight to complex litigation and representation of clients before government authorities, combining deep legal knowledge with a practical understanding of business objectives. Whether navigating multifaceted regulatory issues or leading a high-profile trial team, Jim is committed to achieving results that protect clients’ reputations and interests. Recognizing his successes, Jim was named as one of the Top 50 Litigators in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal (2018), a list that highlights “50 of the very best litigators in the business.” Jim has three times been awarded Top Verdict in California by the Daily Journal (2015, 2017, 2022). Jim is also a recipient of the prestigious Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing.
Jim’s representative matters include:
- Representing mortgage-service industry client in a multi-week arbitration trial alleging trade secret and breach of contract claims;
- Representing social media company in putative class actions alleging discrimination;
- Representing oil refinery company in state regulatory matters;
- Representing surgical supply company in False Claims Act litigation;
- Representing government contractor in breach of contract litigation brought by subcontractors;
- Representing bank in False Claims Act litigation brought in multiple state courts;
- Representing cosmetics company in putative class action relating to alleged false statements;
- Representing public utilities in numerous litigations and disputes with municipalities;
- Representing pharmaceutical company responding to civil investigative demands from state agencies;
- Representing hospital owner in False Claims Act litigation;
- Representing educational institutions in government civil fraud investigations and False Claims Act matters.
Jim’s litigation and regulatory experience covers a wide range of subject areas, including Food and Drug Administration regulations, laws relating to false advertising or marketing, regulations governing trade with sanctioned countries, government conflict of interest and procurement rules, and other topics. Jim has practiced in federal and state courts across the country, and has worked with numerous prosecutors’ offices nationwide.
Jim also has written extensively, including in particular on the False Claims Act. Jim is one of the editors of the Firm’s mid-year and year-end False Claims Act alerts, regularly presents on the False Claims Act, and has represented a breadth of industries in False Claims Act matters—including educational institutions, financial institutions, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, construction companies, telecommunication clients, emergency services personnel, and accounting firms, among others.
Jim is an active member of the community and is involved in the Firm’s Pro Bono program. On a pro bono basis, Jim assisted the California Science Center Foundation with the acquisition and transportation of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Jim also has been involved in assisting clients in pro bono matters protecting victims of domestic violence.
Jim is serving his second term as a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of Pasadena Heritage, California’s second largest historical preservation organization.
Prior to joining the firm, Jim served as a law clerk to The Honorable Nora M. Manella in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Jim graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2004, where he served as an Editor of the Harvard Journal on Legislation. In 2000, Jim graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and received Phi Beta Kappa honors.
Jim is a member of the California Bar.
Jillian London is a partner in the Century City office of Gibson Dunn. She practices in the firm’s Litigation, Media, Entertainment & Technology, Class Actions, and Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Groups. Jillian is a member of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee.
Jillian has extensive experience litigating all stages of complex commercial disputes in the entertainment and technology sectors, from pre-litigation counseling through trial and appeal. She has represented corporate and individual clients in the media, entertainment, and technology industries in a wide range of litigation in state and federal courts, including in breach of contract, class action, unfair competition, First Amendment, and antitrust matters. Jillian also regularly advises clients on media relations and media legal issues in the context of high-profile litigation and commercial disputes.
Jillian was named one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Global Entertainment, Sports, and Media Lawyers. She has also been recognized in 2024 by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for Entertainment and Sports Law, and Appellate Practice, and by The Legal 500 for Media and Entertainment: Litigation. She was also named in Variety’s Hollywood’s New Leaders list for 2023.
Representative Matters:
- Achieved a complete victory for a confidential client in a multi-million dollar profit participation arbitration after a two-week hearing.
- Defeated certification in full of a class of printer owners bringing claims against Hewlett Packard Inc. relating to the use of color ink in printing.
- Represented AMC in profit participation and breach of contract litigations and arbitrations concerning the television series, The Walking Dead.
- Represented a major technology company in multidistrict class action litigation related to consumer fraud claims, which resulted in a favorable settlement for the client.
- Represented a major entertainment company in an arbitration concerning a television series breach of contract dispute that arose in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Represented a major pharmaceutical company in a purported “reverse payment” antitrust action in which direct and indirect purchasers sought billions of dollars in damages.
- Secured dismissal of a breach of fiduciary duty action against the Trustee of a billion-dollar Estate.
- Represented a major technology company in a putative class action concerning misclassification of its workers.
- Represented an entertainment company in relation to a prior contractual dispute over the rights in certain music recordings.
- Secured a new trial for an automobile manufacturer in a dispute with a former motor vehicle franchisee after a jury had awarded $256 million in damages.
- Obtained affirmance from the Eleventh Circuit of a summary judgment ruling in favor of a for-profit educational institution against False Claims Act allegations.
Jillian received her law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2013, where she was a technical editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and the President of the Board of Student Advisers, and received the Dean’s Award for Community Leadership. She graduated magna cum laude in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Harvard College and received a Master of Science with Distinction in Philosophy & Public Policy from the London School of Economics & Political Science in 2008. After obtaining her Master of Science degree, Jillian worked as a researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, on a nationwide mental health campaign.
Prior to joining the firm, Jillian served as a law clerk to The Honorable Chester J. Straub in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to The Honorable Claire C. Cecchi in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. She also worked as a litigation associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in New York.
Jillian is a board member of the Western Justice Center. She also serves on the board of KEEN Los Angeles and the Harvard Law School Association of Los Angeles. She also maintains an active pro bono practice, including filing amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Courts of Appeal and representing individuals and organizations with immigration, First Amendment, and other constitutional law related issues.
Jillian is a member of the California and New York bars. She is admitted to practice before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, as well as the United States District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of California and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Jonathan D. Fortney is a litigation partner in the New York office of Gibson Dunn. He has spent his entire professional career at the Firm, where he has been a long-time member of the Firm’s Litigation and Securities Litigation practice groups, with each consistently recognized as a leading national practice. He regularly represents investment funds, private equity firms, portfolio companies, corporate issuers, directors and officers in complex disputes, including M&A litigation, securities class actions, stockholder derivative suits, and corporate control contests. Jonathan also handles sensitive internal and government investigations for public and private companies that involve complex asset valuation and esoteric securities and trading matters.
Jonathan is an aggressive and strategic litigator with a national practice, regularly litigating in courts in Delaware, Manhattan, and other jurisdictions around the country. He has almost as much experience litigating affirmative claims for clients as he does defending claims against them. He brings a plaintiff’s side mindset to every engagement, going on the offensive to uncover critical evidence and craft compelling themes that rewrite plaintiff-driven narratives, reclaim the high ground for clients, and secure pivotal wins throughout the litigation cycle.
Jonathan actively engages in high-impact pro bono litigation. He has successfully represented members of New York’s artistic community, led a winning voting rights trial team, and defended press freedoms by representing a journalist arrested while reporting on a protest.
Jonathan earned his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Law and pursued specialized studies in transnational corporate law at Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. He earned a B.A. in Political Science, magna cum laude, from Bob Jones University, where he was recognized as an Avro Manhattan Scholar.
Representative Securities and Stockholder Derivative Matters:
- Medallion Financial: Represented company and senior officers in a multi-year SEC investigation and subsequent securities fraud action brought by the SEC in the Southern District of New York, where the case is stayed pending settlement negotiations.
- Danimer Scientific: Represented company, directors, and certain officers in securities class actions and multiple derivative lawsuits that followed a de-SPAC transaction; secured voluntary dismissal of all Securities Act claims and Section 14(a) Exchange Act claims after filing pre-motion letters and a motion to dismiss. Secured complete dismissal at the pleadings stage in the Eastern District of New York of all Securities Act and Exchange Act claims with prejudice and without leave to amend—all affirmed by the Second Circuit.
- Northwest Biotherapeutics: Representing company in Delaware Court of Chancery derivative action challenging incentive compensation approved by an overwhelming stockholder vote.
- Elliott Management: Represented Elliott and related parties in various stockholder actions arising out of investments.
- Third Point Management: Represented Third Point and related parties in various stockholder actions arising out of investments.
- Major Retailer: Represented company and several directors and senior officers in securities class actions and derivative suits in multiple jurisdictions related to FCPA allegations.
- JPMorgan Chase: Secured complete victory for independent directors of JP Morgan Chase in derivative lawsuits arising out of “London Whale” trading losses.
- National Association of Corporate Directors: Represented NACD before the Delaware Supreme Court in the Rural/Metro Corporation litigation, drafting an amicus curie brief to provide a voice for directors who were not present at the trial in the Court of Chancery, as all had settled on the eve trial, leaving only financial advisors as defendants.
- International Hedge Fund: Represented client in pursuing securities litigation in the Southern District of New York to protect its investment in a foreign private issuer, including developing novel securities law claims tied to the foreign private issuer’s American Depository Receipts.
- Fortune 50 Company: Represented client in responding to demand on its board of directors related to ongoing civil litigation concerning last-mile delivery projects.
- Fortune 50 Company: Represented client that faced hostile overtures from activist investors related to an anticipated equity issuance; reviewed company’s bylaws, proposed equity offering, and related SEC filings to assess potential liability and litigation theories that activist investors might employ to attack the company and build an activist response playbook.
- Fortune 150 Company: Represented client that faced a potential hostile takeover attempt; reviewed company’s bylaws, assessed special meeting issues, and implemented amendments.
- Hedge Fund of Funds: Represented one of the first hedge fund of funds in litigation related to the collapse of Amaranth.
- Hedge Fund of Funds’ Directors: Represented former directors of a hedge fund of funds in multi-district litigation related to the collapse of Refco; secured voluntary dismissal of all claims of directors following extensive multi-national discovery.
- Representing public and private companies in both pursuing and defending multiple unrelated books and records demands from stockholders. Successfully tried and defended multiple books and records summary proceeding trials.
Representative M&A and Deal-Related Matters:
- Representing private equity firms and/or their PortCos in multiple unrelated commercial disputes.
- Alcon: Represented the company in expedited litigation and trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery, as well as an expedited appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court, over a voting proxy and preferred shareholder consent rights relating to ownership stake in early-stage med tech company. Secured victory after trial on a voting proxy revocation that successfully halted the med tech company’s planned IPO and paved the way for Alcon to acquire all the company’s preferred stock from early-stage investors.
- Deer Park Road: Represented the firm in expedited litigation in the Delaware Court of Chancery relating to its ownership stake in an early-stage tech company disrupting the real estate broker market. Secured an early status quo order freezing the controlling stockholder from taking any material actions and aggressively enforced that order, ultimately yielding a settlement through with the majority stockholder gave up control of the company’s board.
- Private Equity Firm: Represented a leading LatAm firm in deal-adjacent litigation brought by an opportunistic company seeking a finder’s fee related to a port acquisition. Secured a successful resolution after narrowing the case by winning dismissal of two of three claims at the pleadings stage.
- Vista Outdoor: Represented the company in a high-stakes earn-out dispute initiated by Vista against the sellers of a business Vista acquired. Following expedited discovery, won summary judgment in the Southern District of New York on affirmative claims and dismissal of defendants’ counterclaims—all of which the Second Circuit affirmed, with the District Court awarding Vista substantial attorneys’ fees and costs. The District Court’s memorandum and order is now a leading opinion addressing the duty of good faith and fair dealing under NY law.
- Private Equity Firm: Represented client in an escrow dispute related to its sale of one of its PortCos. Filed a lawsuit against the buyer after receiving a notice of claims and refusal to release escrowed portion of the purchase price, securing a prompt and favorable resolution for client.
- Private Equity Firm: Represented client in a corporate control dispute litigated in the Illinois Chancery Division and the Delaware Court of Chancery related the firm’s investments in an energy recycling company; filed and won, after trial, a parallel books and records proceeding in the Delaware Court of Chancery that yielded a highly favorable resolution of all claims, including payment of client’s attorneys’ fees and costs.
- Itron: Represented Itron in a $60 million contract dispute regarding a subsidiary it acquired; resolved case on the morning trial was to start in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
- Corvex Management & The Related Companies: Represented clients in a two-week arbitration (the result of which was publicly disclosed) that resulted in invalidating all material anti-shareholder defenses of CommonWealth REIT, whose Trustees Corvex/Related ultimately removed in a consent solicitation. Major media outlets described the outcome as a “major victory” for Corvex/Related.
- Private Equity Firm: Represented client in investigation and litigation for one of its PortCos in the Delaware Court of Chancery against a former employee regarding improper competition and soliciting of the PortCo’s customers in violation of non-compete and non-solicitation covenants; successfully secured extension of covenants and full refund to the PortCo of all salary paid to the former employee during the non-compete period.
Other Commercial Litigation Matters:
- Coupang, Inc.: Represented the global e-commerce company in the Delaware Court of Chancery in a contract dispute that a former employee belatedly brought years after departing the company and on the eve of its IPO.
- Major Financial Institution: Represented client in a $160 million lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery related to corporate owned life insurance policies; successfully resolved dispute in the early stages of discovery and secured complete indemnification for client.
- Major Financial Institution: Represented client in a multi-week bench trial in the Southern District of New York in which client sought billions of dollars of damages on its claims of contract and fiduciary duty breaches, fraud, and civil RICO; secured favorable settlement during trial.
- Intel: Represented Intel in a commercial dispute involving a telecommunications entity in which it had invested, securing dismissal at the pleading stage of all causes of action with prejudice.
- Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield: Represented Empire in an action by pension funds that sought millions in rebates rightfully earned by Empire, securing a dismissal from the bench at oral argument of all causes of action with prejudice. Obtained affirmance of that dismissal on appeal before both the New York Appellate Division and Court of Appeals.
- Major Financial Institution: Represented client in antitrust class action alleging bid manipulation in the municipal derivatives industry. Case was favorably resolved with no payment by client.
Representative Investigations & Regulator Responses:
- Representing certain financial institutions and executives in multiple unrelated ongoing criminal investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Hedge Funds: Represented funds in government investigation regarding block trading. Following multiple submissions, government did not pursue investigation of any clients.
- Hedge Fund: Represented leading structured credit hedge fund in a government investigation pursuing a novel theory of undervaluation of assets; secured a favorable resolution for client.
- Multinational Hedge Fund: Represented one of the largest hedge funds in the world in connection with an internal investigation of securities trading by a senior manager.
- Risk and Financial Advisory Firm: Represented client in a government investigation of the valuation of collateralized debt obligations by a hedge fund the firm advised. Following submission of white paper and expert report, government took no action against client.
- Multinational Insurance Company: Represented client in a government investigation of its issuance of annuities and subsequent changes to the terms of those annuities during the 2008 Financial Crisis. Following submission of responses to targeted inquiries, government dropped the investigation.
- Multinational Hedge Fund: Represented one of the largest alternative asset managers in the world in connection with government investigations of its valuations of esoteric assets.
Angela Coco is a litigation associate in the New York office of Gibson Dunn.
Angela’s practice spans a broad range of complex civil and criminal litigation matters, with a focus on high-stakes white collar defense, securities-related investigations, and commercial litigation across all industries. Angela has served as a key team member representing clients in regulatory inquiries, internal investigations, and enforcement actions brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, as well as various other federal, state, and local government agencies and attorneys general. Angela has been involved in all stages of arbitration and litigation and has contributed to successful outcomes in both bench and jury trials.
Angela maintains an active pro bono practice and has handled a wide range of matters, including serving as first-chair in the successful representation of an asylum petitioner before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (U.S. Immigration Court). She has also partnered with organizations such as Legal Services NYC, Catholic Charities, and HerJustice to provide legal services to individuals in need.
Angela earned her Juris Doctor cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in 2022, where she served as an Executive Editor of the Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and as an intern to the Honorable Judge Richard M. Berman of the Southern District of New York. While attending law school, Angela was awarded certificates of merit for superior academic performance and for recognition in Pro Bono service. Angela also represented low-income individuals and United States Veterans in Michigan State Courts through the Veterans Legal Clinic and Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic. In February 2022, Angela authored an article published in The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys Journal analyzing the impact of COVID-19 on the older workforce and proposing reforms to ensure a safer workplace.
Angela earned her Bachelor of Arts in history from Wellesley College, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with departmental honors. At Wellesley, Angela also received the Deborah W. Diehl Prize for Distinction in History, and was honored with various other awards and fellowships recognizing her superior academic performance and papers in various disciplines.
Angela is admitted to practice in the State of New York, before the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the United States Tax Court, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
Christoph Jacob is an associate in the Munich office of Gibson Dunn. He is a member of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition, Intellectual Property, Technology Transactions and Privacy, Cybersecurity & Data Innovation practice groups. He is currently on secondment.
Christoph advises clients on complex German and international transactions, focusing on IP/technology and antitrust.
He studied law at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he passed his first state examination in 2019. Christoph passed his second state examination at the Higher Regional Court Munich in 2021 and has been admitted as a German lawyer (Rechtsanwalt) since 2022. During his studies and his legal clerkship, he worked in one of the most highly regarded mid-sized firms in Germany as well as a fintech start-up.
Christoph speaks German and English.
Cynthia (“Cindy”) Richman is Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice Group. Her practice focuses on trial and appellate litigation, class actions, grand jury and civil investigations, merger review, regulatory and competition policy matters, and antitrust counseling. Over the past two decades Cindy has litigated, including through trial, “bet the company” cases touching almost every aspect of antitrust in a wide range of industries. Cindy’s practice has a strong focus on the tech sector, network industries, and digital platforms.
Cindy has been repeatedly recognized by her peers for inclusion in Chambers USA’s Antitrust: Litigation, Best Lawyers in America®’s Litigation: Antitrust, and in the Legal 500 United States as a “Leading Lawyer” in the fields of merger control, cartels and civil litigation/class action defense. She was also featured as one of Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Litigators in America” (2023-2025) and “500 Leading Antitrust and Competition Lawyers for 2025.” Global Competition Review named Cindy to its list of Top 100 Women in Antitrust 2021; it also shortlisted her for GCR’s 2021 Litigator of the Year award. Who’s Who Legal has repeatedly recognized Cindy for her “impressive advocacy skills” and “strong track record in important cases.”
A sample of Cindy’s recent and ongoing representations include:
- Lead counsel to major technology company in numerous class actions and private damages actions in cases around the country alleging violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act;
- Co-led the team that successfully defended Apple Inc. against antitrust claims in the three-week Epic v. Apple trial that The New York Times referred to as “one of the biggest antitrust trials in Silicon Valley’s history”; and
- Co-lead counsel for Swisher International in Trendsettah USA, Inc. v. Swisher International, Inc., 31 F.4th 1124 (9th Cir. 2022), winning order setting aside jury verdict on Section 2 monopolization claim based on plaintiffs’ fraud.
Cindy is an active member of the antitrust bar. Among other activities, she serves as the Vice-Chair of the Unilateral Conduct Committee of the ABA’s Antitrust Section, is a member of the International Bar Association’s Antitrust Section Unilateral Conduct Working Group, authors a yearly paper for PLI on monopolization, speaks widely on a range of antitrust topics and has contributed to leading antitrust journals and treatises including Antitrust Law Developments, Antitrust Source, The Antitrust Adviser, and The Antitrust Report.
Cindy served as a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas Penfield Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She received her law degree magna cum laude in 2002 from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as Executive Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. Cindy earned a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 1998.
Cindy is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Maryland.
Kristen Limarzi is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn and Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice. Prior to joining the firm, she served as a top enforcement official in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, where, as Section Chief, she helped shape and implement the agency’s enforcement priorities and policies for both mergers and other business practices across industries.
Recognized as “Dealmaker of the Year” for 2023 by Global Competition Review and included in Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Antitrust and Competition Lawyers” for 2025, Kristen leverages her experience as a top government enforcer to represent clients in merger and non-merger investigations before the DOJ, the Federal Trade Commission, and foreign antitrust enforcers, as well in as appellate and civil litigation. Her experience in merger matters spans the gamut of sectors, including consumer products, healthcare, oil and gas, telecommunications, financial and other data services, transportation, and high-tech products. Kristen brings a practical approach to helping clients navigate the increasingly complex antitrust enforcement environment, employing her deep experience with agency practice to achieve successful results in an efficient manner.
Since joining Gibson Dunn, Kristen has represented:
- VMware in securing global antitrust clearance of its $61 billion acquisition by Broadcom;
- Xylem in its acquisition of Evoqua;
- NewsCorp.’s Dow Jones subsidiary in its billion-dollar acquisition of assets from S&P Global and IHS Markit, proposed by the latter in connection with DOJ and foreign enforcers’ review of their global merger;
- Hershey Co. in its acquisitions of chocolate manufacturer Lily’s and pretzel maker Dots;
- General Electric in its acquisition of BK Medical;
- Welbilt in its proposed acquisition by Middleby and then in the successful topping bid acquisition by Ali Group; and
- Hologic in its acquisitions of Endomag, Biotheranostics and Bolder Surgical.
Kristen’s antitrust litigation experience includes representing:
- Marriott in defending class actions alleging information exchanges;
- Hill-Rom in defending a monopolization claim brought by a competitor;
- A major European financial institution in defending class actions alleging price fixing in European Government Bonds; and
- AT&T, as a non-party, in the DOJ’s investigations and lawsuits against Google.
Kristen brings exceptional experience and a practical approach to representing companies in non-public civil and criminal antitrust investigations. She has also served as a corporate compliance monitor, overseeing the adoption of rigorous competition-related controls at a corporation subject to a non-prosecution agreement with the Antitrust Division.
Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Kristen twice received the U.S. Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award. As DOJ Antitrust Division Appellate Section Chief, she was responsible for a team of more than a dozen professionals litigating appeals in the Division’s civil and criminal enforcement actions and participating as amicus curiae in private antitrust actions. While serving in the Antitrust Division, Kristen also helped to develop Division policies on a wide range of issues. She was a principal drafter of the agency’s Antitrust Guidance for Human Resources Professionals in 2016, she led the team revising the agency’s Antitrust Guidelines for International Enforcement and Cooperation in 2017 and was part of the small team of agency attorneys and economists that revised the Horizontal Merger Guidelines in 2010.
Kristen is senior fellow in George Washington University’s Competition and Innovation Lab, and speaks regularly on antitrust issues, including at programs for the U.S. Department of Justice, the American Bar Association, George Mason University, and the Association of American Law Schools.
She clerked for Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia from 2002 to 2003. She received her law degree, magna cum laude, in 2002 from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. Kristen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with high honors from Swarthmore College in 1997.
Kristen is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.
Cate Harding is an associate in Gibson Dunn’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group.
She has represented individual and corporate clients across various industries in all matter of high-stakes trial-level litigation in federal and state courts. Her practice focuses on complex civil matters, including wide ranging employment litigation, class actions, commercial disputes, and First Amendment matters. She also maintains an active pro bono practice, in which she has represented victims of mass atrocities in seeking redress in U.S. federal courts.
Cate received her law degree from New York University School of Law in 2019. During law school, she was an Articles Editor for the NYU Journal of Legislation and Public Policy and served as a board member for the National Security Law Society. Cate was also an oralist for NYU Law’s Jessup International Law Moot Court team, which was one of 32 teams worldwide that advanced to the competition’s final rounds. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Duke University in 2010 in Public Policy.
Prior to law school, Cate worked at the intersection of U.S. foreign policy, international development, and diplomacy for both the U.S. Government and community-based organizations in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.
Cate is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.
Morgan A. Carter is an associate attorney in the New York office of Gibson Dunn. She practices in the firm’s Litigation Department.
Morgan earned her Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 2024, where she was a Forum editor of the Columbia Law Review and placed first in the regional Frederick Douglass Moot Court competition. While at Columbia, Morgan worked as a student attorney for the Columbia Community Advocacy Lab and served as chair of the Community Engagement committee for the Paralegal Pathways Initiative.
Morgan received a Bachelor of Arts in 2019 from the University of Denver, where she was a Boettcher Scholar. She double majored in International Studies and Media Studies.
Morgan is admitted to practice in New York.