Frances Waldmann is a litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She practices in the firm’s Antitrust and Competition, White Collar Defense and Investigations, Artificial Intelligence and Automated Systems, and Privacy, Cybersecurity and Data Innovation practice groups. Her practice focuses on technology-driven disputes and encompasses complex litigation, investigations by U.S. and international enforcement authorities, and regulatory compliance.

Technology Disputes: Ms. Waldmann has experience litigating a wide range of litigation matters, including class action lawsuits and cross-border cases, often involving cutting edge technologies such as electronic devices, computer software and artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems. Ms. Waldmann also counsels technology-focused clients on regulatory compliance with respect to the developing body of law on emerging technologies, data privacy, and the sharing economy. She has particular expertise in legal, ethical and policy developments surrounding artificial intelligence and automation, and advises companies navigating the evolving regulatory landscape for technologies such as autonomous and connected vehicles.

Antitrust and White Collar Defense and Investigations: Ms. Waldmann’s antitrust experience includes the defense of civil class action lawsuits and cartel investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and global antitrust enforcers in industries including consumer electronics, transportation, automobile parts, telecommunications and financial services. Additionally, she is bilingual in English and German and has represented clients in cross-border white collar defense and regulatory enforcement matters initiated by government agencies including the DOJ, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Air Resources Board, European Commission, Germany’s Central Bank (Bundesbank), and the U.K. Financial Services Authority and Serious Fraud Office. Ms. Waldmann has also conducted sensitive internal investigations on behalf of companies and board committees related to corporate compliance issues.

Selected Representative Matters:

• Advising companies on AI regulatory compliance and product development and liability issues.
• Defending a technology company against claims brought under Section 2 of the Sherman Act.
• Representing an electronics company in a civil class action lawsuit alleging a price-fixing conspiracy.
• Representing a financial institution in a class action lawsuit in S.D.N.Y. stemming from governmental investigations regarding the ISDAFIX benchmark rate.
• Leading a German language internal investigation on behalf of the board of a financial institution regarding the adequacy of internal controls.
• Representing a global financial institution in connection with the international investigations into LIBOR and foreign exchange trading.

Ms. Waldmann received her law degree from Magdalen College, Oxford University in 2009. She practiced in Gibson Dunn’s London office from 2014 to 2016 and, prior to joining Gibson Dunn, at a leading set of barristers’ chambers in London, where she was part of the prosecution team in a high profile insider trading trial that resulted in multiple convictions.

Ms. Waldmann spearheads Gibson Dunn’s Quarterly Artificial Intelligence and Automated Systems Client Update and has contributed to various publications on matters relating to artificial intelligence and automation, including the article “United States: Artificial Intelligence,” published in the Global Data Review Insight Handbook 2020.

She is a member of the State Bars of California and New York and the Bar of England and Wales, and is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.