Michele D. Johnson, the Global Chair of Latham & Watkins’ 1,100-lawyer Litigation & Trial Department, is a partner in the Securities Litigation & Professional Liability practice, a former member of Latham’s Executive Committee, and former Managing Partner of Latham’s Orange County office. Consistently recognized as a leading national litigator, she represents industry-leading public and private companies, officers, directors, special committees, and global financial institutions in a wide range of complex securities and commercial litigation. She counsels her clients in the boardroom to help them navigate transactions at their earliest stages and serves as lead advocate once bet-the-company litigation takes shape, often spearheading cases that are among those most closely watched by lawyers and business leaders.
Michele’s recent representations include achieving a precedent-setting jury verdict involving disputed claims of more than $400 million, defeating an unsolicited-submission claim related to a high-profile, $10 billion IPO, winning complete dismissals with prejudice in numerous securities class actions in federal and state court, obtaining a motion-to-dismiss victory that should curtail future opportunistic challenges to executive compensation disclosures in proxy statements, and leading the team that won a $26.2 million plaintiff-side federal jury verdict in a breach of contract case. She has significant trial experience involving securities, contract, product liability, unfair business practices, tax, and insurance bad-faith trials.
She is ranked Band 1 by Chambers USA, is recognized as a Leading Lawyer by The Legal 500 US, and has been named among California’s Top 100 Lawyers and Top Women Lawyers by the Daily Journal. Michele was named by Benchmark Litigation among the Top 10 Women Litigators in the US in 2023 and 2024, a Top 100 Trial Lawyer for a number of years, and California Securities Litigator of the Year in 2023 and 2021. She has been listed as a Law360 Securities MVP and among the 25 Most Influential Women in Securities Law. The American Lawyer frequently recognizes her in its Litigator of the Week feature for her high-profile successes. Most recently, Michele was selected for the Distinguished Leader Award by the California Recorder.
Michele has served on the Firm’s Executive, Pro Bono, Associates, and Diversity Committees. She serves on the American Bar Association’s Corporate Laws Committee, on the boards of the Georgetown University Law Center, the Berkeley Center for Law and Business, and the Orange County Bar Foundation’s Project Youth, and on the emeritus board of the Public Law Center and is a past president of the Orange County chapter of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers.
Updated Sep 2024
