Debra Wong Yang

Yang, the first Asian-American woman to have served as a U.S. attorney, is a former California state judge and now chair of Gibson Dunn's firmwide crisis management group.

"The group is a hybrid," she said. "When problems are super-sized, you need to consider all aspects, including litigation, possible congressional testimony and the potential for white-collar inquiries. We continue to see these problems arise."

Yang also does a considerable amount of litigation. She is currently defending San Francisco-based activity tracking technology company Fitbit Inc. in a theft-of-trade-secrets lawsuit brought by its Jawbone competitor in state court. The complaint alleges that Fitbit targeted certain Jawbone employees and conspired to steal the competitor's trade secrets. AliphCom Inc. v. Fitbit Inc., CGC 15-546004 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed May 27, 2015).

Additional recent marquee clients include the Office of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, which retained Yang and Gibson Dunn to handle the sensitive assignment of investigating bombshell allegations of politically motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge and the holdup of Superstorm Sandy aid for Hoboken unless the mayor supported a private real estate project. The subsequent report by Yang and Gibson Dunn colleagues identified three former Christie staffers who were later charged criminally and tried last fall.

Yang said she "spent a tremendous amount of time" in 2016 for client DraftKings Inc. as the fantasy sports contest provider industry came under official scrutiny over data security and online gambling allegations. "We coordinated all state and federal governmental inquiries into DraftKings' practices," she said. The official inquiries followed public reporting about a DraftKings employee allegedly exploiting nonpublic customer and financial information to play on other fantasy sports websites.

"This has been a life-or-death battle for them," she said of her fantasy sports client. "Whether they're legal or not has been called into question. I helped guide them around that, and they're still alive. The industry is alive. We have built in additional consumer protections, and we respond to issues raised by different attorneys general around the county. The client is building out success anew."

Yang represents Sir Elton John's tour management company in a labor and employment dispute brought by two Los Angeles Police Department officers who allege they were retaliated against and terminated by the management company for their role in reporting misconduct by their superiors to the department. She also represented the superstar personally on related claims by one of the officers, who subsequently withdrew his claims and voluntarily dismissed the case.

She said she had met John by phone but had to turn down an invitation to attend a Las Vegas concert. "I was too busy. And it was a shame, because he sang at the very first concert I ever went to as a young teen in the '70s at the Forum. I was so bummed."

— John Roemer