Karen P. Hewitt

Hewitt is Jones Day’s partner-in-charge for the firm’s five-office California region. Before coming aboard in 2010, she served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District.

She is the president of the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys, a 350-member national legal group. “We’re entirely bipartisan, and we have members who go back as far as the Carter administration,” she said. “It’s an alumni network that works to highlight the importance of the fair administration of justice for all.”

The association has rarely broken its policy against issuing statements that could be seen as political, she said, “although our board did take a position on the murder of George Floyd.” The statement published in June 2020 said in part, “Racist and unlawful acts of violence against black men and women while in the custody of police officers must be exposed, challenged and prosecuted.”

Much of Hewitt’s work at Jones Day is sensitive and confidential. She did disclose that she is the lead partner serving as Walmart Inc.’s outside counsel in the nationwide array of civil cases arising from the opioid crisis.

She also leads the team defending the company in the civil case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice in district court in Delaware alleging violations of the Controlled Substance Act. U.S. v. Walmart Inc., 1:99-mc-09999 (D. Del., filed Dec. 22, 2020).

Hewitt noted that Walmart is part of the retail pharmacy sector of defendants involved in the multi-district litigation in Ohio; opening statements in an upcoming bellwether trial are set for Oct. 4.

In June lawyers for the pharmacy defendants successfully objected to the judge’s order that jurors be vaccinated against Covid-19, contending that given Ohio’s vaccination rate, 40 percent of the state’s population would be excluded from the jury pool.

U.S. District Judge Dan A. Polster of Cleveland, Ohio, reversed himself a few days later, saying the defense lawyers had made good points about the danger of skewing the jury and that he would not automatically disqualify unvaccinated jurors from being seated. In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, 1:17-md-02804 (N.D. Ohio, transfer order filed Dec. 12, 2017).

Hewitt said she’s proud of the way Jones Day came through the pandemic. “There were no layoffs—we even kept our receptionists on at full pay, even though offices were closed,” she said. “We’re positioned well now as we are hopefully coming out of this.”

--John Roemer