Shawn Holley

Holley is known as the go-to criminal defense attorney for Hollywood’s young starlets. But she never expected one of the biggest moments of her career would come advocating for a fairly obscure client.

But there she was last May, at the White House, petitioning for the commutation of Alice Marie Johnson, who had spent the last 21 years in a federal prison on a nonviolent drug conviction. Alongside longtime client Kim Kardashian, Holley met with President Donald Trump and helped secure Johnson’s release.

“I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do to surpass this? Who can I meet with and in what office can I meet them that will be bigger than that one?’” said Holley, a partner at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP. “Yeah, that was a pretty big deal.”

The case harkened Holley back to her days as a Los Angeles county public defender, before famed attorney Johnnie Cochran tapped her to join his law firm and, later, succeed him as managing partner. Back then, Holley’s clients weren’t as affluent as they are today but still needed her expertise.

“People don’t always have the resources of the kind of clients that I have now, and you can often see the difference in how things turn out,” she said. “It’s the real life of regular people. And I always say that I’m a public defender at heart, so it was awesome to be back in the trenches working on behalf of someone who suffered a tremendous injustice.”

Holley was in St. Louis, representing former NFL running back Reggie Bush, when she heard of Johnson’s clemency. A few days later, she won a $12 million judgment for Bush, who sued the now-Los Angeles Rams over a 2015 injury Bush sustained in the team’s stadium in St. Louis.

Once the jury trial ended, Holley was on a plane to Memphis, where she met up with Kardashian to welcome Johnson home.

“It was just really a whirlwind two weeks,” Holley said. “I think this must have been the highlight two weeks of my legal career, right? I don’t see anything that spectacular happening again.”

Holley said cases like Johnson’s are her why she became a lawyer. Whether her client is A-list talent or a face in the crowd, she will do whatever she can to help. She quoted her former boss Cochran: “We represent the OJ’s and the No-J’s.” Sometimes to the chagrin of her boss, she added.

“My managing partner is always coming in my office and asking, ‘Shawn? This person paid $250 for six months. Can you explain that?’” Holley said. “And I’m like, ‘Yes, I can. Let me tell you what horrible thing happened.’ Ultimately, they get it.”

— Glenn Jeffers