Donna L. Wilson

Wilson, Manatt's CEO and managing partner, found that the pressures of a tumultuous 2020 strengthened the bonds linking her firm and its clients.

"The term 'unprecedented' is overused but apt," she said. "Our clients turned to us for support and guidance, and we value that."

Her expertise as co-leader of Manatt's privacy and data security practice has made Wilson a go-to counselor for companies facing privacy- and cybersecurity-related crises. Over the past two years she served as general privacy counsel for a nationally recognized financial services company.

In that role, she successfully guided it through multiple bet-the-company privacy incidents that required her team of lawyers, consultants and technologists to conduct internal investigations while overseeing forensic audits by third-party vendors. Wilson also engaged with state and federal regulators and law enforcement to notify affected customers, work through complicated business partner relationships and obligations and mitigate litigation risks. Her team also advised the company on insurance recovery options related to each incident.

Meanwhile, she focused too on shepherding the Manatt workforce through the pandemic. "We needed to stay close with and unify our junior professionals and our business professionals," she said. "We held town halls every few weeks and--this was a lot of work--we did a virtual firm retreat for every person in the firm, more than 700 people, all pulled together."

To analogize a tough year, Wilson referred to the old joke about seeking a pony in a pile of horse manure. "We found the pony and we rode the pony," she said. "We did well on a financial basis. We grew the business." Manatt proudly pointed to Wilson's elevation to leadership in 2019 as a milestone, given her status as both a woman and a member of the LGBTQ community.

Wilson pointed to an all-female 2020 partner class and to the firm's emphasis on inclusivity. "Our Covid-19 task force was an example of riding the pony," she said. "We put a strong push behind diversity, inclusion and mental health to help pull us all together and allay anxieties."

Her leadership included a recognition of the political and societal stresses that roiled the nation in 2020. As protests over the George Floyd killing intensified in early June, Wilson was determined to put out a supportive statement to the firm--when she was briefly sidelined by an appendicitis attack.

"The George Floyd fallout was leading to all these terrible events. I was drafting a message with Michelle Cooke [Manatt's chief diversity and inclusion officer] and Kristan Morrell [the chief operating officer] while I was being prepped for emergency surgery. It was so important, and the message turned out well. After I recovered I further addressed the importance of inclusion and diversity directly."

A 2020 achievement was Manatt's winning of Gold Standard Certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum. "This firm is our people," Wilson said.

-- John Roemer