Sharon Bunzel

Partner

Sharon Bunzel is a partner in O’Melveny’s San Francisco office and a member of the White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations Practice. Her practice focuses on the representation of corporate and individual targets, defendants, witnesses, and victims in criminal and regulatory investigations and prosecutions, as well as related civil actions and internal investigations.

Sharon served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of California from September 1999 to January 2005, overseeing long-term, complex investigations, and prosecuting large criminal organizations. She gained substantial trial and appellate experience, having conducted several trials and numerous oral arguments before the District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Sharon worked closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, and served a detail as Special Counsel to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Illustrative Professional Experience

Antitrust

• Representation of high-level executive of LCD panel manufacturer in connection with DOJ Antitrust Division investigation.
• Representation of semiconductor supplier in an industry-wide criminal antitrust investigation.
• Representation of employees of major airline in connection with DOJ antitrust investigation of the air cargo industry.

Trade Secrets and Computer Crimes

• Representation of victim of computer fraud in pursuing civil and criminal remedies.
• Representation of global leader in semiconductors in FBI trade secret investigation and related internal investigation and civil litigation.
• Representation of victims of trade secret misappropriation and computer fraud, including leading technology company, in pursing criminal and civil remedies.
• Representation of Avant! Corporation in criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits for trade secret misappropriation.

Stock Options

• Representation of high-level employees and executives in a variety of stock options backdating investigations, and related criminal, civil, and regulatory matters.

Health Care Fraud

• Representation of high-level executive in criminal investigation related to off-label marketing of pharmaceuticals.
• Member of the trial team representing Alvarado Hospital on charges of violating the federal anti-kickback statute.
• Representation of the Chief Operating Officer of National Medical Enterprises in multi-district health care fraud investigation and related civil suits.

Grand Jury Investigations

• Representation of Fortune 500 companies in connection with grand jury proceedings, including counseling with respect to witness and document subpoenas.
• Representation of a major financial institution in grand jury investigation of money laundering, including responding to grand jury document subpoenas and representing employees during FBI interviews.
• Representation of personal computer manufacturer in connection with law enforcement request for cooperation in criminal investigations.

U.S. Attorney’s Office

• Prosecuted 43-defendant drug conspiracy case, after having overseen a 10-month wiretap investigation by federal, state, and local agents. The case was one of the largest drug conspiracies ever prosecuted in the Northern District of California.
• Prosecuted a multi-defendant drug conspiracy in which the death penalty was sought; received national recognition with the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force’s Regional Award.
• Prosecuted immigration offenses and acted as liaison with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (then I.N.S.) for immigration-related offenses.

Professional Activities

Publications, “Obstruction of Justice Under Computer Associates: Legal, Tactical and Ethical Implications For Attorneys Conducting Internal Investigations,” Internal Investigations: Legal, Ethical & Strategic Issues (PLI 2006); “When It Is Against The Law Not To Confess: Securities Law Requirements To Disclose Illegal Conduct,” 1996 ABA White Collar Crime at F-1; Note, “The Probation Officer and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Strange Philosophical Bedfellows,” 104 Yale Law Journal 933 (1995); Book Review, “Sitting in Judgment: The Sentencing of White Collar Criminals,” Yale Survey of Current Legal Issues 116 (Prototype Issue, June 1996)
Law Clerk, Honorable Fern M. Smith, (then) U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Judicial Extern, Honorable Jose A. Cabranes, (then) U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut
Guest Lecturer, Stanford Law School seminar on Advanced Criminal Practice (2006)
Teaching Assistant, Yale Law School, Criminal Law and Administration (1994-1995); Yale Law School, Civil Procedure (1992-1993)
Honors, Awards of recognition from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Drug Enforcement Administration; San Francisco Police Department; and Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task, all for exemplary work as a prosecutor