Former Merrill Lynch V.P. Joins White Collar Team at Morgan Lewis
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date:
06/01/2009
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NEW YORK, NY, June 1, 2009: Morgan Lewis today announced the addition of Joanna Hendon—most recently first vice president in the general counsel’s office at Merrill Lynch—as a partner in its Litigation Practice, resident in the firm’s New York office. Ms. Hendon’s practice will focus predominantly on white collar and civil enforcement work—an area to which she brings rare, multidimensional perspective as a former federal prosecutor, defense attorney, and investment bank in-house counsel.
“Joanna’s arrival reflects our firmwide commitment to continually build on the outstanding, interdisciplinary representation we provide the financial services industry,” said Firm Chair Francis M. Milone in a memo to the firm. “As our clients face unprecedented economic challenges and an intensifying regulatory and enforcement environment, this commitment is particularly critical.”
At Merrill, Ms. Hendon oversaw all of the investment bank’s criminal inquiries worldwide, as well as significant civil enforcement matters, including those involving CDOs, auction rate securities, and subprime mortgage–backed securities. She regularly appeared before the U.S. Department of Justice, local prosecutors, the New York State Attorney General, the SEC, and FINRA in a wide range of matters affecting Merrill’s businesses. Ms. Hendon also prepared witnesses to testify before Congress, conducted internal investigations, and supervised outside counsel.
“Joanna’s significant white collar and civil enforcement capabilities represent just part of the benefit she brings to our group,” added deputy leader of the firmwide Litigation Practice Jami Wintz McKeon. “Extremely experienced and accomplished in the courtroom, Joanna makes a terrific addition to our outstanding trial team.”
Prior to joining Merrill, Ms. Hendon represented clients in white collar and regulatory matters, as well as complex civil litigation, at two prominent New York firms, following six years of service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. She led many jury trials and complex investigations as part of the office’s Securities & Commodities Fraud Task Force and, in 2000, she received the U.S. Attorney General's John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement for Trial of Litigation—the Department of Justice’s highest honor for the trial of a case—for her victory in a three-month, high-profile government program fraud case.
Ms. Hendon joins a litigation team that spans 18 offices worldwide and comprises more than 700 litigators covering a full spectrum of industries. The firm’s Corporate Investigations and White Collar Practice has a unique national presence, including former prosecutors and trial lawyers on the East and West Coasts, many of whom are among the most highly respected criminal and regulatory defense lawyers in the country. The attorneys in the group have substantial government backgrounds and include Fred Fielding, White House Counsel to three presidents, most recently President George W. Bush; the former Deputy Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service; two former Assistant Attorneys General; three former U.S. Attorneys; the former head of the Justice Department's Enron Task Force; nearly 20 former Assistant U.S. Attorneys; and former Assistant District Attorneys.
Ms. Hendon received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was notes editor of the Yale Law Journal. She clerked for Judge Frank M. Coffin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1991 to 1992.