Naeun Rim

Rim practices white collar criminal defense, complex civil litigation and internal investigations as a principal at Bird, Marella, Boxer, Wolpert, Nessim, Drooks, Lincenberg & Rhow. She also has an extensive pro bono docket.

Born in South Korea and raised in Louisiana, she is a former trial deputy at the Federal Public Defender's office in Los Angeles and a member of the Korean American Bar Association's board of governors for Southern California.

The Covid-19 crisis has kept her fully occupied. "I don't really sleep," she laughed. "It seems best to stay busy while we're cooped up." When Congress passed the CARES Act, she worked with certified interpreters to create a Korean-language translation for Korean-speaking business owners. "There was a limit on the loans available and timing was everything," she said. "We wanted to make sure small business owners could apply. Since then, we've gotten really good feedback that the translation was helpful for the community."

Rim also wrote a "Tips and Trends" op-ed for The Daily Journal on "The Impact of Covid-19 on White Collar Litigation and Investigations." And when inmate deaths due to the virus at local federal prisons seemed to be spiraling out of control, she led a Bird Marella team that partnered with the ACLU of Southern California and the Prison Law Office to file class actions against officials at FCI Terminal Island and FCI Lompoc challenging allegedly insufficient safety measures. Torres v. Milusnic, 2:20-cv-04450 (C.D. Cal., filed May 16, 2020); Wilson v. Ponce, 2:20-cv-04451 (C.D. Cal., filed May 16, 2020).

"We went into emergency mode and worked around the clock for two weeks" to get the complaint drafted and filed, Rim said. "I had 300 hours that month."

"Congress through the CARES Act gave prisons broad authority to release low risk offenders into home confinement so that it could reduce overcrowding and save lives," Rim said when the cases launched. "But officials failed to use that authority. We will hold them accountable in court."

In July the court in the Lompoc action issued a preliminary injunction and ordered the Bureau of Prisons to consider for home confinement prisoners over 50 or with a health condition creating a risk of severe illness from Covid-19. "It was one of a handful of similar court orders across the country ordering prisons to consider home confinement during the pandemic," Rim said.

In March 2020 Rim achieved the final dismissal of all 19 felony wire and mail fraud counts against Mack Machen, the CEO of a movie financing and production company, a complete case victory. U.S. v. Machen, 2:13-cr-00885 (C.D. Cal., filed Dec. 12, 2013).

"A big win for Mr. Machen," Rim said.

-- John Roemer