Five-Partner Team Expands Litigation
Capabilities Nationwide
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is pleased to
announce that a five-lawyer trial team, which successfully
represented actor Johnny Depp in his defamation trial against his
former wife, has joined the firm’s Business Trial practice group.
The group includes partners Camille M. Vasquez, Leo Presiado,
Andrew C. Crawford, Jessica N. Meyers and Samuel A. Moniz.
They all were previously partners at Brown Rudnick, where
Vasquez co-chaired the Brand & Reputation Management group.
Vasquez, Presiado, Meyers and Moniz reside in the firm’s Orange
County office, while Crawford resides in Washington, D.C.
“This trial team underscores the top-tier talent we continue to
attract,” said Luca Salvi, chair of Sheppard Mullin. “The
combination of their brand reputation practice with our renowned
entertainment, private wealth and fiduciary litigation practices
will be a blockbuster for their clients and ours.”
“Following the recent hires of commercial and securities
litigator Tom Panoff in Chicago and entertainment litigator Wook
Hwang in New York, this team exemplifies the latest expansion of
our growing litigation practice,” said Sascha Henry, co-leader of
Sheppard Mullin’s Business Trial practice group. “This is a team of
exceptionally skilled and tenacious trial lawyers who take on the
toughest of cases.”
“We see great opportunity for them at Sheppard Mullin and look
forward to helping them achieve their goals of continuing to grow
their practice and client base on a national scale,” Henry
added.
Vasquez added, “In addition to the firm’s top-notch litigation
practice, we were attracted to the firm’s global footprint,
full-service platform and its culture of collaboration. We look
forward to building on the firm’s already successful litigation
capabilities and offering a deeper and wider bench to clients
throughout the country.”
In addition to the now-famous Depp case, Vasquez and her team
are handling numerous high-profile brand reputation and defamation
matters, including:
- Representing producers of the musical film “The Deb” in a suit
filed against actress Rebel Wilson for defamation in LA Superior
Court
- Representing singer Gloria Trevi in three separate litigations
in Texas and California relating to abuse allegations of which she
was acquitted of in Mexico in 2004.
- Defending composer and musician Danny Elfman in connection with
allegations that he defamed composer Nomi Abadi in comments
published in a Rolling Stone magazine article.
Vasquez became a household name in 2022 while the public watched
her and her team win more than $10 million in damages on behalf of
Depp in his defamation suit against ex-wife, actor Amber Heard.
Vasquez focuses her practice on brand reputation and defamation
litigation, with additional experience litigating contract disputes
and business torts. She also regularly manages parallel reputation
management and crisis communication issues. Vasquez is recognized
as a leading litigator by Chambers, Legal 500 and Benchmark
Litigation, among others. She earned her B.S., magna cum laude,
from the University of Southern California and her J.D. from
Southwestern Law School.
Presiado is a business litigator with a distinguished track
record of representing clients in complex, high-stakes lawsuits in
state and federal courts, including business torts, unfair
competition, fradulent transfer claims and contract disputes. He
also is an accomplished appellate lawyer having briefed and argued
cases before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the California
Court of Appeal and the United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel.
He served on the board of directors of the Orange County Federal
Bar Association and is committed to providing pro bono services to
the Public Law Center. He earned his B.A. from the University of
California, Berkeley and his J.D. from the University of
California, Los Angeles.
Crawford counsels clients on a range of business disputes and
government contracts, including prosecuting and defending federal
bid protests before both the GAO and the Court of Federal Claims,
state bid protests, debriefings, REA/claim preparation, prime/sub
disputes, adverse past performance challenges, contract
administration and compliance issues. He also advises clients more
broadly on complex civil litigation matters and played an integral
role on the Depp trial team. Crawford earned his B.A., cum laude,
from Wake Forest University and his J.D., cum laude, from Boston
College Law School.
Meyers represents a variety of clients in high-profile
defamation matters and other sensitive litigation matters with
reputational implications, such as lawsuits under New York's Adult
Survivors Act and similar revival statutes in other states. She
deftly handled Depp’s direct examination in his defamation case
against his former wife. Meyers also works with fintech companies,
handling cryptocurrency matters involving everything from
governance disputes, breach of contract, securities and RICO
claims, and related defamation and non-disparagement provisions.
She earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Tufts University and her
J.D. from Boston University School of Law.
Moniz represents clients in lawsuits involving contract and
partnership disputes, business torts, unfair competition,
malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent transfer and
defamation in state and federal court, with an emphasis on brand
and reputation management in sensitive or highly publicized
matters. His clients include high-profile and private individuals,
global companies and small businesses in the entertainment
industry. Moniz earned his B.A. from the University of California,
Berkeley, with high honors, and his J.D. from the University of
California, Los Angeles.
About Sheppard Mullin’s Business Trial Practice Group
Litigation has been a core part of Sheppard Mullin since 1927.
Our Business Trial practice today consists of approximately 250
attorneys globally. Sheppard Mullin litigators possess exceptional
trial and appellate skills, in-depth knowledge of state and federal
courts at all levels and practical business judgment, all of which
contribute to our consistent track record of success. Our
litigators represent clients in a broad spectrum of industries such
as computers and information technology, financial services,
aerospace, manufacturing, entertainment, transportation,
communications, pharmaceuticals, advertising, print and broadcast
media, franchising, petroleum production and refining, real estate,
insurance, construction, and food and beverage manufacturing, among
others.
About Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Sheppard Mullin is a full-service AmLaw 50 firm with more than
1,000 attorneys in 16 offices located in the United States, Europe
and Asia. Since 1927, industry-leading companies have turned to
Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters,
high-stakes litigation and complex financial transactions. In the
U.S., the firm's clients include nearly half of the Fortune 100.
For more information, please visit www.sheppardmullin.com.
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JILL SCHACHNER (312) 499-0558
jschachner@sheppardmullin.com
LORENA LOPEZ (619) 338-6650
ilopez@sheppardmullin.com