John Hueston has extensive jury trial experience, and has been selected to serve as lead trial counsel by Fortune 500 companies and by governments in a variety of cases, including securities and shareholder class action cases, patent litigation cases, trademark infringement cases, environmental cases, and cases alleging unfair business practices. A former lead prosecutor for the Enron trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, Mr. Hueston also devotes a substantial part of his practice to internal investigations, corporate crisis management and white collar criminal defense. Mr. Hueston serves as co-Chair of the firm's Corporate Crisis and White Collar Criminal Defense practice.

California Lawyer magazine named Mr. Hueston a 2007 "California Attorney of the Year." The American Lawyer magazine recognized Mr. Hueston as one of the nation's Top 50 Young Litigators. Fortune magazine chose Mr. Hueston as one of 25 People Who Shaped the Face of Business in 2006. The Los Angeles Daily Journal named him as one of California’s 100 most influential lawyers in 2006, 2008 and 2009 and as a Top 20 California Lawyer Under 40 in 2001. Chambers & Partners recognized Mr. Hueston as a leading litigation attorney for white-collar crime & government investigations in its 2008 Chambers USA Leading Lawyers for Business Guide. Mr. Hueston was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for white-collar criminal defense in 2009 and 2010, as well as the Southern California Super Lawyers list for business litigation from 2006-2010. Mr. Hueston has never lost a trial.

As Forbes magazine noted of his work in the trial of Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay, where he served as a lead prosecutor, “John Hueston was quickly able to establish a clear, uninterrupted connection between fraudulent activities at Enron and the two defendants . . . . a methodically researched presentation of evidence proving the defendants’ guilt.”  The Los Angeles Times described Mr. Hueston’s cross-examination of Lay as “devastating” and The Associated Press called him “the perfect David to Lay’s Goliath.”  See Enron coverage excerpts here.

As a prosecutor, Mr. Hueston was presented with four awards by three U.S. Attorneys General for his trial work, including the highest award bestowed by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

As a partner at Irell & Manella, Mr. Hueston has been retained to represent clients in their most significant and high-profile matters, including:

• National counsel for the Semiconductor Industry Association for anti-counterfeiting litigation and compliance initiatives;
• Representation of a Fortune 500 company in a successful defense in one its most significant patent litigation matters;
• Representation of Fortune 500 company for an internal investigation involving widespread allegations of Sarbanes-Oxley violations; Mr. Hueston resolved the underlying allegations within 30 days;
• Completed a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation on behalf of a Fortune 100 company within 60 days and resolved it without assessment of corporate sanctions or fines;
• Representation of the Navajo Nation in uranium contamination matters, including representation of witnesses at congressional hearings;
• Obtained prosecution declinations for UCI and former individual "targets" in highly publicized investigation of the Liver Transplant Program;
• Representation of two former Chief Executive Officers in two separate criminal and S.E.C. stock option backdating investigations; Mr. Hueston secured written prosecution declinations for each former criminal “target;”
• Secured permanent injunction and won trial for UCLA in civil actions against organizations and individuals threatening violence against faculty members and administrators;
• Resolved federal investigation of alleged celebrity privacy breaches at major health care organization without charges or fines;
• Representation of a Fortune 200 company in major California class action defense case in which Mr. Hueston's team disposed of the case for $10,000 prior to the filing of class certification briefing;
• Obtained multimillion dollar settlement at conclusion of arbitration for former CEO deprived of change in control benefits;
• Representation of a Fortune 250 company in national class action related to alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act;
• Selected by County of San Bernardino to serve as Independent Counsel in a corruption investigation.

Before serving on the Enron Task Force, Mr. Hueston served as Chief of the Southern Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and prosecuted cases of national and international significance, including an international defense contracting fraud trial for which he was decorated by the United States Army.

Mr. Hueston also served as a lead trial attorney in one of the first criminal trademark infringement cases brought to trial in Southern California. Mr. Hueston has been specially commended by the National Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the F.B.I., the I.R.S. and U.S. Customs for his performance as the lead trial attorney in fraud, tax and public corruption trials.

Mr. Hueston has lectured nationally at law and business schools on topics of trial advocacy and corporate governance, including Cornell, Loyola, Stanford, UCLA, U.C. Hastings, U.S.C. and Yale. Mr. Hueston served as a law clerk for the Honorable Frank M. Johnson, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Mr. Hueston currently serves as a Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference Lawyer Representative. He is also a Board Member of the ABA White Collar Committee, West Coast Regional Subcommittee. Mr. Hueston is  a recognized leader in the Orange County legal community, having served in numerous leadership positions in county civic and bar organizations. A recent past president of the Federal Bar Association, Mr. Hueston is President-elect of the Orange County Bar Association, the second largest bar association in the State of California with over 8,000 members.