SPECIAL REPORT WHO’S WHO IN LAW

From First Amendment defense to IP protection, these attorneys are fighting the good fight.

From intellectual property lawsuits to First Amendment defenses, L.A.’s top lawyers, including Greenberg Traurig’s Hilary Sledge-Sarnor, left, have seen it all. This Special Report looks at local law leaders and asks them about important cases and what’s next.

The law industry is one of L.A’s biggest, with hundreds of attorneys in the county’s largest firms alone, not to mention the large number employed by the area’s smaller firms. In this Special Report, we profile a number of leaders in the industry whose specialties range from entertainment to corporate finance to intellectual property.

ALSO IN THIS SECTION: LAW FIRMS LIST PAGE 18

ANGELA AGRUSA DLA PIPER, Managing partner, Los Angeles

Angela Agrusa, the managing partner of DLA Piper’s office in Century City, prides herself on reputational defenses for her clients.

Representing a wide variety of corporations and celebrities, Agrusa has defended brands in more than 50 class action-suits that combined for more than $100 billion in potential exposure. Her clients have included Hilton Hotels, NeuroBrands, the Cosmopolitan Hotel of Las Vegas and Peter Frampton.

How did you discover your interest in law? And how did you arrive at your specialty?

I started out in big law as an antitrust lawyer and had the opportunity at an early stage in my career to work on a high-profile price-fixing case in the oil and gas industry. It was the largest antitrust case pending in the state of California at that time, and reporters with the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Wall Street Journal were all following it from the courtroom. It was during that case that I really started to understand a client’s defense in the courtroom is just as important as a client’s defense in the court of public opinion. In many ways, it’s where I developed my skills in brand crisis litigation, navigating client legal problems in the courtroom, but with an eye toward preserving their larger brand and their investments in the court of public opinion as well.

Tell us about the most noteworthy or interesting case (or cases) that you’ve been involved with.

I still think back to the three antitrust cases I tried early in my career. When I started at my big law job, the first of the cases had been sent back from the court of appeal for trial. Every major oil company was a defendant, and because of the high stakes of the suit, I worked with a “who’s who” of influential trial lawyers in the country at that time. When all the other defendants settled ahead of trial, I went from one of 50 associates on the case to the senior associate. Because of the importance of the case, we were able to explore every defense and take the time to draft every brief and handle every issue. It was an education in and of itself, and I developed strong research and writing skills. I also examined witnesses, argued motions, and fell in love with the courtroom. I’ve had a lot of interesting cases since then, but that one was career defining.

Are any new regulations or pieces of legislation in Los Angeles or California creating new or more work for you and your practice?

One of the things I love about California is its desire to be at the forefront of consumer protection, including issues around the environment and social justice. However, first doesn’t always mean best, so we are vigilantly watching state and local regulators to keep our clients apprised of emerging ESG issues and concerns.

How did the pandemic affect your career, and what do you think is on the horizon for the legal industry?

When the pandemic hit, I did not anticipate lawyers would be as in demand as we were. It turned out there were a lot of needs around our clients’ legal rights, and I found myself working around the clock during the pandemic, whether it was with a hotel client that had guests with Covid-19 or with governments on behalf of our clients to assist those affected.

Personally, one of the biggest changes was that my children were home. It was the first time in their lives that what I did for a living started to have meaning. They obviously knew I was a lawyer, but did not fully appreciate the importance of the partnerships I had with my clients. In hearing and watching me work with my clients, they saw lawyers as important problem solvers. Now both of them want to be lawyers.

What is the biggest challenge that comes with your job?

I am also the managing partner for the firm’s Los Angeles offices. Not long after I took on this role, the pandemic hit, so I learned quickly that to be effective I was going to need to find ways to really connect with people no matter where they were working. I was able to do that by using a good deal of the business acumen and relationship-building skills I’ve developed over the years. I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished. We’ve grown our office in the last five years from 50 lawyers to 120 and tripled our revenues. And we have hired some of the best lawyers I’ve ever worked with.