Two Latham Litigators Named Among California’s Top Women Lawyers
Litigation & Trial partners Michele Johnson and Laura Washington are featured in the annual Daily Journal report honoring Top Women Lawyers in California. Each year, the state’s legal newspaper of record celebrates California-based female attorneys who have made a significant impact for their clients and community.
Johnson, the Global Chair of Latham’s Litigation & Trial Department, was cited for her leadership of a global department with more than 900 litigators that continues to see surging client demand across a variety of practices. “Litigation has increased across the board… that includes all areas in which we operate,” she noted in her published profile.
Named to this prestigious list multiple times, including in 2015, 2019, and 2020, Johnson was honored this year for case work in her thriving securities litigation practice – particularly a defense win for NextGen Healthcare Inc. and its founder and CEO in a rare securities “holder’s claim” case – the first ever tried in California, which earned additional Daily Journal recognition as a Top Verdict of 2021. “We knew we’d be making law.” Johnson said.
Washington’s selection marks the third consecutive year she’s been named among the state’s top women lawyers. A partner in Latham’s industry-leading Entertainment, Sports & Media Practice, she represents high-profile clients in complex business disputes and negotiations, with broad litigation experience that includes pre-litigation counseling, trial, and appellate work. Her published profile cited Washington’s ongoing counsel to Beyoncé and the entertainment icon’s companies across areas such as intellectual property management and copyright litigation defense, as well as Washington’s representation of other entertainment industry clients. She also is counselling Beyond Meat, the maker of the popular meat substitute, in a trade secrets case set for trial this September. In August 2021, Washington and the Latham team won an important summary adjudication motion that put defendant and cross-complainant Beyond Meat “now in the envious place of having more claims than the plaintiff,” she said.