Shawn Holley

Holley would just as soon no one knew what cases she is handling. Yet despite her wishes, she is a prominent attorney for big-name celebrities in potentially embarrassing civil or criminal matters.

“I am most valuable when I am able to keep things completely quiet,” Holley said. “When my family members say to me, ‘I haven’t seen you in the news in a while,’ that means I’m doing my job.”

Staying out of the news has proved impossible sometimes with clients like Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Lindsay Lohan, Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, several Kardashians, and, currently, actor Shia LeBeouf.

Her first big-name client was O.J. Simpson, when she was the only woman on his “dream team” of attorneys. After that case, she headed the criminal law practice for team leader Johnnie Cochran’s firm until she joined Kinsella Weitzman.

Currently, Holley is defending clients in two cases in court, one civil and one criminal. Although both are public, she can’t say too much about either.

In the criminal case, she represents Canadian rapper Tory Lanez, who is charged with allegedly firing a gun, which caused rapper Megan Thee Stallion to be struck in the foot by shrapnel, according to Holley. People v. Daystar Peterson, BA490599 L.A. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 8, 2020)

A protective order limits what she can say about the case. “There is a great deal of information that has not yet come out.”

Holley represents LaBeouf in a civil suit by his ex-girlfriend, English singer-songwriter FKA Twigs. “She is claiming that he gave her an STD … and engaged in some abusive conduct,” Holley said, who has answered the suit with a general denial. Barnett v LaBeouf, 2OST CV 47437, (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 11, 2020)

She said she will deal with the case “responsibly, respectfully and sensitively, given the past relationship between these two people.”

Holley credits much of her success to caring for her clients and being sensitive to the emotional impact of legal action on them. Her approach is “care-ful in the true sense of that word,” she said. “I care for my clients. … I think it requires a tender and soft touch, but right next to it, the ability to forcefully litigate.”

— Don DeBenedictis