Hailyn J. Chen

Los Angeles

Litigation

As comanaging partner of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in Los Angeles, Hailyn J. Chen coaches a team of attorneys committed to advancing diversity and practicing pro bono work that addresses systemic racism.

Citing "a relentless focus on excellence," Chen said, "we've always been committed to enhancing diversity and promoting women and people of color within the firm. ... We have a unique culture that focuses on giving associates early responsibility and a say in how the firm is run, and I think that contributes to associate satisfaction."

As COVID restrictions began to lift, she especially sought to create social bonds of harmony and cohesion with the firm.

"We really worked on having different events and trainings that brought people together," she said, "and that has really created a great sense of camaraderie and just excitement being together. We had our first in-person women's summit ... this past summer that brought together our women attorneys from all of our offices for professional development as well as a social event."

Chen studied a stark contrast to her own encouraging coaching style when UC Berkeley called upon her to serve as the lead counsel in an internal investigation of alleged abuse, discrimination and bullying by the women's swim coach, Teri McKeever.

After a nearly year-long investigation, Chen and her team released a public report in February 2023, which concluded that Coach McKeever had violated the university's policies against bullying and discrimination. Chen is currently leading an ongoing investigation of the athletic director and associate athletic director's awareness of and response to Coach McKeever's conduct.

"It was covered widely in a lot of news media, and I think it represents one of the very first public examinations of what constitutes abusive coaching," she said. "Where does one draw the line between tough coaching and abusive coaching?"

Chen also served as the lead counsel in an independent internal investigation into decades of alleged sexual abuse at the Thacher School, an elite boarding school in Ojai.

Her oversight extends even higher, as she was appointed by the California Supreme Court to the State Bar's Board of Trustees in 2017. She recently co-authored an op-ed in the Daily Journal that discussed the Bar's past failures regarding renowned attorney Thomas Girardi.

"As a board, we are focused on what reforms we need to implement to strengthen oversight and accountability," she said. "We asked for an internal investigation into how the State Bar could have failed to discipline Girardi even after hundreds of complaints had come in over the years. What we found was shocking and revealed a lot of past failures that we need to make sure we address, and we're working really hard on that."

--Kathryn Stelmach Artuso