Hailyn J. Chen

In recent years, Chen, a top Munger attorney who advises the University of California on a variety of matters, has watched her practice evolve radically.

The Obama administration's 2011 "Dear Colleague" letter pushed universities to respond to campus sexual assault complaints more seriously. California's affirmative consent legislation in 2014 changed the dynamics of these complaints. And U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' decision to rescind the Obama-era Title IX policy guidelines complicated things further.

"It's been an enormously exciting practice to build," Chen said. "Across the country, universities are struggling with how to best address the issue of campus sexual assault and harassment." Chen has being doing that sort of work since 2013, when she helped represent the Regents of the University of California in a lawsuit filed by a UCLA student who had been suspended after being accused of sexual assault. As similar suits began to increase in number, the school turned to Chen and Munger to handle the issue as a whole.

But it's not just misconduct matters that Chen provides her legal expertise. She also advises the UC system on health care, federal grants and false claims issues. Recently, she represented the university system in a bizarre fiasco: a prescription drug scam that was making millions of dollars off the schools' student health insurance program.

The insurance fraud scheme targeted students and posed as a legitimate campus clinic. When the university system found out, Chen went to work seeking an emergency injunction, which was eventually granted.

"We talked about how [the scheme] harmed the UC's reputation, because it is involved in important clinical research," she said, noting that arguing irreparable harm was an interesting challenge. "Students could mistake this sham trial as something being sponsored by the university."

In addition to her work for California's public university system, Chen also advises the California Institute of Technology.

Recently, Chen was appointed to the State Bar of California's Board of Trustees. She was sworn into her three-year term last fall. Chen noted that the recent realignment of the organization makes it an interesting time to serve on the board. She said that the changes will "allow the State Bar to focus on its regulatory mission."

-- Nicolas Sonnenburg