Sharon M. 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 Group. 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. Sharon advises boards, audit committees, and independent directors in connection with complex and sensitive internal investigations. Sharon was named one of the
Daily Journal's top women lawyers in California in 2012.
Sharon served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of California from 1999 to 2005, overseeing long-term, complex investigations, and prosecuting large criminal organizations. She 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.
Sharon recently completed a term as O’Melveny’s firmwide Talent Development Partner. Sharon has been awarded O’Melveny’s Values Award, an annual award given to two partners worldwide who exemplify the Firm’s values of leadership, excellence, and citizenship.
Illustrative Professional Experience
Internal Investigations: Representations of corporations and special board committees in internal investigations of allegations of False Claims Act and other alleged federal law violations. Develop recommendations for remedial actions and compliance programs.
Trade Secrets and Computer Crimes: Representations of corporate victims of trade secret misappropriation and computer fraud in pursuing civil and criminal remedies, and of corporate targets of FBI trade secret theft investigations and related internal investigations, criminal prosecutions, and civil litigation.
Antitrust: Individual and corporate representations of targets in DOJ Antitrust Division investigations of the freight forwarding, air cargo, LCD panel, and DRAM industries.
Securities Fraud: Representations of high-level employees and executives in stock options backdating and securities fraud investigations, and related criminal, civil, and regulatory matters.
Health Care Fraud: Corporate and individual representations in criminal investigations and civil suits for off-label marketing of pharmaceuticals and health care fraud.
Grand Jury Investigations: Representation of companies in connection with grand jury proceedings, including counseling with respect to witness and document subpoenas, testimony, and government interviews.
Professional Activities
Honors, “Top Women Litigator” (
Daily Journal: 2010, 2012)
Speaker, “Critical Risks Facing Technology Companies in 2013: Thoughts from Corporate Counsel & the SEC,” Stanford’s Rock Center’s Panel (Feb. 2013); “Internal Investigations & Compliance Issues for Technology Companies,”
The Fourth National Institute on Internal Corporate Investigations and Forum for In-House Counsel (ABA, May 2012)
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 (N.D. Cal.)
Judicial Extern, Honorable Jose A. Cabranes (D. Conn.)