Hueston Hennigan announced today that Vicki Chou has been elected to the partnership and Brittani Jackson, Lauren McGrory Johnson, and Rajan Trehan have been promoted to counsel.
“Vicki is already a veteran trial lawyer at the top of her field and trusted by many clients,” said managing partner Brian Hennigan. “We are extremely excited to have her join the partnership. We are equally excited to have Brittani, Lauren, and Raj promoted to counsel as they provide creative solutions for our clients’ most pressing issues.
“These nationally elite and diverse trial lawyers have already assumed key roles in the Firm’s handling of bet-the-company cases for our growing client base. We look forward to the continued contributions of our next generation of practice leaders.”
Vicki Chou
Ms. Chou, a recognized rising star and accomplished trial lawyer, is a key member of both the Trial Practice and the White Collar and Investigations teams. She is already a seasoned trial and appellate attorney and recently served as a deputy chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California, where she represented the United States in hundreds of criminal cases. As an AUSA, many of her matters involved high-level international coordination, including a case in which she successfully negotiated a first-of-its-kind joint investigative agreement with a European country. She successfully tried more than 10 cases as lead counsel and won every one of her appeals before the Ninth Circuit.
Since joining Hueston Hennigan, Ms. Chou has earned leadership roles in several of the nation’s most high-profile bet-the-company cases. She has also been involved with developing strategies related to the defense of some of the highest-profile defendants and in terminating high-stakes criminal investigations. She has earned praise from clients and colleagues for achieving her clients’ objectives. Ms. Chou served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert E. Payne, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. She earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School, cum laude, and her undergraduate degree in social studies from Harvard University.
Ms. Chou serves as a board member for the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association; is co-chair for the ABA Computer Crime, Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets Sub-Committee; and sits on the executive committee for the LACBA Litigation Section.
Ms. Chou has been recognized as a rising star by multiple publications: 40 & Under Hot List by Benchmark Litigation (2020); Top Women Attorneys and Top Minority Attorneys List by the Los Angeles Business Journal (2020); and as of only 20 recipients of National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s (NAPABA) 2020 Best Under 40, a significant accomplishment as the field includes those in all areas of the law, including the judiciary, academia, and politics.
Brittani A. Jackson
Ms. Jackson represents clients in a broad range of litigation matters, including commercial contract litigation, high-profile shareholder and employee disputes, white collar criminal defense, and trade secret litigation. She also has experience representing clients in internal investigations and investigations being conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the California and New York Attorneys General.
Ms. Jackson earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School and earned her MBA at Harvard Business School. Prior to law school, she was a business analyst at McKinsey & Company.
Ms. Jackson is on the Board of Directors for the Friends of the LA Law Library and the Board of Directors for the Inner City Law Center. She also serves on the Scholarship Committees for the John M. Langston Bar Association and the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.
In 2020, Ms. Jackson was named to the Southern California Rising Stars list, recognized by The National Black Lawyers as a “Top 100” and “Top 40 Under 40” and by Best Lawyers as “One to Watch.”
Lauren McGrory Johnson
Ms. Johnson represents a broad array of clients in high-stakes litigation, including complex commercial disputes, securities litigation, trade secrets misappropriation, breaches of contract and fiduciary duties, and criminal investigations. She consistently delivers successful outcomes for clients and has argued and won significant motions for clients in state and federal court.
Prior to joining Hueston Hennigan, Ms. Johnson served as a law clerk for the Honorable George H. Wu on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Ms. Johnson earned her J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. During law school, she served as a senior editor for the Southern California Law Review and her note was selected for publication.
Ms. Johnson currently serves on the Board of Councilors’ Judicial Clerkships Committee at USC Gould School of Law.
Ms. Johnson was named to the Southern California Rising Stars list in 2020.
Rajan Trehan
Mr. Trehan focuses his practice on high-stakes matters oriented toward trial. He has experience litigating contract, fraud, intellectual property, and class action disputes on behalf of a diverse array of corporate and individual clients. He is also a core member of the firm’s entertainment practice, in connection with which he has defended both a leading video game company and a prominent studio at trial.
Mr. Trehan recently won a landmark preliminary injunction ordering U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement to restore a toll-free immigration detention hotline operated by Freedom for Immigrants, a nonprofit dedicated to ending the isolation of those in immigration detention. ICE had shut down the hotline, which was used to report on conditions of detention and monitor abuse, following its feature in TV series Orange Is the New Black.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Trehan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Paul G. Gardephe of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Mr. Trehan earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a notes editor for the Columbia Law Review and a James Kent Scholar.