Carolyn Kubota

Partner

Carolyn Kubota is a partner in O’Melveny's Los Angeles office. She focuses on civil and criminal trials, white-collar criminal defense, internal corporate investigations, and civil fraud actions. Carolyn has extensive trial experience, including nineteen jury and bench trials in state and federal courts, and numerous contested evidentiary hearings. Carolyn is undefeated at trial.

Carolyn’s professional accomplishments at O’Melveny include her recent victory in United States v. Alvarado Hospital, et al., in which she successfully defended San Diego-based Alvarado Hospital against alleged criminal violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Alvarado was accused of paying bribes, disguised as payments under physician relocation agreements, to local doctors in exchange for patient referrals. Carolyn represented Alvarado in a seven-month jury trial in U.S. District Court. After deliberating for four months, the jury deadlocked and the court declared a mistrial. The government thereafter dismissed all criminal charges against Alvarado and its co-defendants pursuant to a civil settlement.

Carolyn also represented former FBI agent Denise Woo in her prosecution for alleged national security violations, a matter which was profiled in the June 2006 edition of The American Lawyer and recognized by California Lawyer as one of the top pro bono cases in 2006. The government agreed to a probationary sentence and a minor fine rather than the 12- to 15-year prison term Ms. Woo faced on the original charges. As a result of this outcome, the California Lawyer awarded Carolyn its inaugural Angel Award in 2006 for outstanding work in a pro bono matter.

Among her successful representations of clients in civil litigation, Carolyn defended the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”) in a trial in U.S. District Court. In Huang v. California Institute of Technology, et al., she successfully defended Caltech against challenges to the validity of its patent for the DNA sequencer, which was used to decode the human genome and represents one of the most significant scientific inventions of the 20th century. The trial included the presentation of technical scientific issues related to the development and function of the sequencer. At the conclusion of the trial, U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer ruled for the defense on all claims. In a related case, Carolyn obtained the dismissal of a civil False Claims Act suit against Caltech, filed by a commercial competitor of Caltech’s licensee for the manufacture of the DNA sequencer.

Carolyn has also represented major accounting firms in “bet-the company” cases involving fraud and professional liability, S.E.C. investigations, criminal investigations, and litigation by state regulatory boards.

Carolyn advises domestic and international companies regarding internal reviews, conducting business overseas consistent with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, duties and disclosures under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, investigating allegations of wrongdoing and making disclosures to the Justice Department and the S.E.C. She has designed and implemented compliance programs designed to prevent violations of law and company policy.

Before arriving at O’Melveny & Myers, Carolyn taught trial advocacy for two years as a clinical professor at the UCLA School of Law.

Carolyn also served for twelve years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office. There, she served as Deputy Chief of the Major Frauds Section, supervising the investigation and prosecution of financial fraud cases and successfully tried complex criminal trials.

Her cases included:

• The trial of Charles Knapp, former Chairman of Financial Corporation of America and American Savings and Loan Association, and three co-defendants for bank fraud
  
• The trial of prominent Beverly Hills CPA Joseph Nash for loan and other financial fraud
  
• The trial of Orange County investment advisor James Niven for bilking investors recruited principally from his church congregation out of millions of dollars
  
• The prosecution of three top executives of Financial News Network, a publicly traded company, for securities and bank fraud and lying to the company’s auditors

The United States Department of Justice repeatedly recognized Carolyn’s achievements as a prosecutor. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno twice presented Carolyn with the U.S. Department of Justice Director’s Award for Superior Performance. She also received the U.S. Attorney’s Office Award for Superior Performance.

Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Carolyn worked as a litigation associate at a major Los Angeles law firm doing general business litigation. During her tenure there, she successfully co-tried an unfair business practices case in Los Angeles County Superior Court, winning a jury verdict in excess of $3.5 million.

Professional Activities

Admitted, California
Authorships, "Heart of the Matter," The Recorder, Spring 2008 (co-authored with Lisa Chen); “Stifling Legal Advice,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, January 2, 2008; “Whistleblower Cases: Turning the Tables,” The National Law Journal, November 12, 2007 (co-authored with Angela Machala)
Awards, Recognized as a "Top Woman Litigator," by the Daily Journal (2008)