Jan Nielsen Little

Little is best known as top white-collar defense attorney for individuals and companies under federal investigation. Among her current matters, she represents a former senior executive of a financial institution in national criminal and regulatory investigations, and she represents individuals in two federal political corruption matters.

She can't talk about those cases, of course. "I always have a handful going, and if I do my job right, no one ever knows about them," she said

Still, in August, she and partner John Keker are set to defend a real estate broker in a bank fraud trial that is an offshoot of the political corruption case against Harlan Kelly, the former president of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

She scored an important win in January when U.S. District Chief Judge Richard Seeborg granted her request to sever the bank fraud count, which concerns refinancing Kelly's home mortgage, from the corruption charges. U.S. v. Kelly and Makras, 21-CR-00402-RS (N.D. Cal, filed Oct. 19, 2021).

Little also handles complex civil litigation. For instance, she represents a company that claims Pacific Gas & Electric owes it millions for work it did cleaning up after 2018's devastating Camp Fire. PG&E has countersued raising bribery allegations. Bay Area Concrete LLC v. Pacific Gas & Electric, CGC-20-587568 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 28, 2020).

"It's a big case with a lot of documents," she said. "We're just getting going on discovery now, but I think it'll be pretty interesting."

This past fall, she participated as local counsel in her first in-person trial since the pandemic, a partnership dispute over Seattle real estate. The client sat in the jury box, while jurors sat socially distanced in the gallery and roamed the hallways during breaks. "It was very strange, but it was good to be back in the courtroom again," she said.

Zoom is OK for minor hearings, but not for trials and motions, Little said. "I prefer being able to... look the judge in the eye."

- Don DeBenedictis