Devin A. Donohue

Select examples of Devin’s prior firm experience include:

• Secured, as lead trial counsel, a full acquittal for a corporate client and its chief compliance officer after seven days of trial in a criminal matter.
• Obtained, as lead trial counsel, a complete defense victory on behalf of a corporate client in an arbitration matter brought by a well-known Hollywood producer. The matter involved numerous investments in an alternative investment portfolio and allegations of fraud and churning and claimed damages in excess of $6 million. The matter concluded after 12 hearing days, including several days where Devin cross-examined the lead plaintiff.
• Secured, as lead trial counsel, a favorable arbitration award on behalf of one of the largest banks in the world against a Caribbean bank who alleged securities fraud related to a $30 million investment claim after two weeks of hearings involving witnesses who spoke four different languages.
• Served as lead investigator for several corporate clients in connection with national and California-based internal investigations of various allegations of misconduct of corporate principals, employees and agents, including claims of securities fraud, trade secret misappropriation, corporate espionage, employment discrimination and sexual harassment, and interfaced with various regulators regarding such matters.
• Secured, as lead trial counsel, the largest FINRA industry arbitration award at the time on behalf of a brokerage firm against two financial advisers who owed $6.6 million on promissory note obligations. The award included decisions in the client’s favor on numerous counterclaims asserted by the advisers claiming damages in excess of $10 million related to alleged contractual and compliance issues, and the advisers paid the full $6.6 million award plus interest within months of the award’s issuance.
• Obtained, as lead trial counsel, a seven-figure arbitration award on behalf of a large corporate client. The arbitrators additionally denied the respondent’s multimillion-dollar securities and employment (whistleblower) counterclaims. The 11-page, publicly available award detailed the panel’s findings based upon the key evidence presented at the hearing and the cross-examination of the respondent, which revealed numerous inconsistencies between his testimony and the documentary evidence.
• Served as lead trial counsel in the prosecution of several successful injunction trials on behalf of various corporate clients against former employees for violation of employment agreements and misappropriation of trade secrets, including prosecuting a matter on behalf of a major Wall Street firm in the Central District of California and obtaining an injunction against a former employee who was improperly soliciting customers in connection with a multimillion-dollar book of business.
• Served as lead trial counsel on behalf of various corporate clients in the successful defense of several temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction hearings, and follow-on monetary damages actions, including securing a favorable settlement in an eight-figure matter on behalf of a large corporate client being sued by one of its competitors.
• Served as lead trial counsel in a securities matter on behalf of a financial institution client against the wife of a Forbes 400 billionaire litigated across multiple tribunals, including Los Angeles Superior Court, the Southern District of New York and the Central District of California, and secured a favorable decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on various securities class action issues.
• Served as lead defense trial counsel in a civil consumer fraud matter filed by a state attorney general.
• Obtained summary judgment in the Central District of California for a copyright and trademark holder against an alleged co-holder of intellectual property rights and obtained a permanent injunction requiring return of all copyrighted materials and prohibiting any the defendant’s use of the intellectual property. Successfully handled the appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
• Secured favorable settlement while motion for summary judgment on forum non conveniens grounds was pending for an Asian shipping company facing a multimillion-dollar property loss claim in the Northern District of California.