Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton Acquires Prominent San Diego Attorney; Pamela Naughton, Former Assistant U.S. Attorney for San Diego, Set to Join Firm

Business Wire, June 22, 2000

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LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 2000

Pamela J. Naughton will join Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton as a partner in its expanding San Diego office, it was announced today.

Naughton, who has 20 years of trial experience, will specialize in complex business litigation and sensitive internal corporate investigations.

Naughton has been an international partner at Baker & McKenzie in San Diego, which she joined in 1989. From 1981-1987, Naughton was an Assistant United States Attorney in San Diego. While with the U.S. Attorney's Office, she tried numerous cases and argued more than a dozen appeals to the Ninth Circuit. She also co-tried "U.S. v. Player," a murder case which marked the first time the Battered Women Syndrome defense was allowed in federal court.

Naughton has significant experience in complex civil and administrative cases involving health care, securities fraud, class actions, tax fraud, government investigations, breach of contract and business torts. A seasoned litigator, she has tried, as first chair, more than 30 jury trials in federal and state court. She is licensed to practice in California, Washington, D.C., and Minnesota, as well as before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The arrival of Naughton will bring the number of attorneys in the firm's San Diego office to 44. She follows a number of other distinguished San Diego attorneys who have joined the firm as partners over the last year.

Well-known corporate partners Robert Sbardellati and Michael Moore positioned Sheppard Mullin as a leader in the health-care industry when they brought their group to the firm approximately one year ago. Richard Kintz, one of San Diego's most respected corporate attorneys, joined the firm in November. Kintz had been managing partner at the San Diego office of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison.

"The addition of these tremendously talented and successful partners stems from our commitment to constantly seek ways to improve the depth and quality of service to our clients and the San Diego business community," said John Collins, managing partner of Sheppard Mullin's San Diego office.

"We are extremely fortunate to have a partner of Pam Naughton's stature join our team. She is a proven leader with talent and practice specialties that perfectly complement our firm."

Before entering private practice, Naughton did three tours in Washington, D.C. She served as counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee for the impeachment proceedings against Chief Judge Walter Nixon of Mississippi. In 1987, she was the only female counsel to the United States House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran.

In that capacity, she examined Assistant Attorney General Charles Cooper, the witness who preceded Oliver North, and conducted 25 depositions, including those of Attorney General Edwin Meese, former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, and former Presidential Chief of Staff Donald Regan. From 1979-1981, she was an attorney at the Main Department of Justice, Office of Legislative Affairs.

Naughton has served as president of the San Diego Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and also served on the Judicial Evaluation Committee of the San Diego County Bar Association. Recently, she has appeared as a commentator on MSNBC, as well as KFMB-TV and KNSD-TV in San Diego.

Active in the community, she has been a weekly volunteer at Children's Hospital, and is the founder and trustee of a music education scholarship trust fund in her hometown of Hibbing, Minn. A summa cum laude graduate of St. Olaf College in Minnesota, Naughton earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979.

"I'm delighted to be a part of Sheppard Mullin, which has such a long and distinguished reputation for quality service and collegiality," Naughton commented.

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is the 11th-largest law firm in California with nearly 300 attorneys in four offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Orange County. The San Diego office includes some of the area's best lawyers in corporate and securities transactions, intellectual property, business litigation, labor and employment, antitrust, tax and estate planning, and real estate.

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