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 and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

The American Lawyer magazine has recognized Mr. Hueston as one of the nation's Top 50 Young Litigators and California Lawyer magazine has named Mr. Hueston a "California Attorney of the Year." 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, 2009 and 2010 editions of 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 2009-2011, as well as the Southern California Super Lawyers list for business litigation from 2006-2010.

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 Forbes magazine noted of his work in the trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, 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 partner at Irell & Manella, Mr. Hueston has been retained as lead counsel to represent clients in their most significant and high-profile matters, including:

Civil Litigation:

• Obtained over $50 million and award of IP rights for major telecommunications company at the conclusion of an 8-month action;
• Recovery of $20 million “earn out” payments for former executives of Automotive.com;
• Termination of one of a Fortune 500 company’s most significant patent litigation matters through an early and targeted motion for summary judgment for noninfringement;
• Disposal of a multi-million dollar consumer class action case for Waste Management prior to filing of class certification briefing for nominal $10,000 settlement;
• Obtained multimillion dollar settlement for former CEO deprived of change in control benefits in case initially deemed “meritless” in company public filings;
• Secured permanent injunction and won trial for UCLA in civil actions against organizations and individuals threatening violence against faculty members and administrators;
• Defeated CEQA challenges to proposed residential development by Las Vegas developer Marnell Corrao Associates and recovered 100% of attorneys fees;
• Representation of Pacific Life in an investment mismanagement case against the Bank of New York Mellon;
• Representation of Verizon Wireless in antitrust matter;
• Representation of egg producers in a challenge to California Proposition 2;
• Representation of the Navajo Nation in uranium contamination matters;

Corporate Crisis and White Collar Criminal Defense:

• FCPA investigation on behalf of a Fortune 100 company completed within 60 days and without assessment of sanctions or fines;
• Resolved tri-state Attorneys General investigation into alleged false advertising by Fortune 500 health care company without fines or penalties;
• Obtained prosecution declinations for UCI and former individual "targets" in highly publicized health care fraud investigation of the UCI 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;”
• Resolved federal investigation of alleged celebrity privacy breaches at UCLA without charges or fines;
• Obtained prosecution declination for former Chairman and criminal “target” in investigation of alleged fraudulent investments at PEMGroup;
• Representation of executive in Galleon investigation;
• Representation of Angelo Mozilo in criminal investigation and in SEC action;
• Representation of Kaiser Permanente in Nadia Suleyman “Octomom” investigations of alleged HIPAA violations;
• Independent Counsel for County of San Bernardino in 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 7,000 members.