Jones Day issued the following announcement on Jan. 25.
Rasha Gerges Shields and Jason C. Wright, partners in Jones Day's Los Angeles Office, were included in the Los Angeles Business Journal's "2022 Leaders of Influence: Minority Attorneys" list. The list honors Los Angeles attorneys from a broad cultural spectrum who have an impact on the legal scene, while serving as trusted advisors and maintaining the highest professional and ethical standards.
Ms. Shields, a partner in Jones Day's State Attorney General Enforcement, Investigations & Litigation Practice, defends companies and executives in high-stakes civil and criminal matters, including Department of Justice and State Attorneys General enforcement actions. She also helps companies conduct internal investigations and develop effective compliance programs.
Ms. Shields is a first-chair trial and appellate attorney, with more than 20 years of experience. She has served as lead trial counsel in federal court, argued before the California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit, and submitted amicus briefs as lead counsel before the U.S. Supreme Court. Clients trust her with sensitive and important investigations and representations. Currently, she co-leads the defense of a company in a major purported class action antitrust dispute involving claims in excess of $10 billion.
Ms. Shields has an extraordinary commitment to serving the community, mentoring the next generation of lawyers, and diversifying the legal profession. She leads Jones Day's Los Angeles Office's Diversity, Inclusion & Advancement Committee and co-chairs the California Lawyers of Color affinity group. She holds several leadership positions on nonprofit and volunteer organizations. Following the murder of George Floyd, the Mayor of Los Angeles appointed her to co-chair the Los Angeles Police Commission's Advisory Committee on Building Trust and Equity, and she is currently co-chairing the LAPD's Implementation Committee. Similarly, in 2021, the UCLA Chancellor appointed her to co-chair UCLA's policing and public safety efforts. She is also part of the Firm's Constitutional Policing and Civil Justice Reform Task Force.
Mr. Wright, a partner in Jones Day's Business & Tort Litigation Practice, helps health care providers resolve problems both before litigation starts and once in litigation. He has represented health care providers to ensure appropriate reimbursement from health plans and other payors, and he has defended providers in a variety of cases involving antitrust claims and allegations that providers engaged in fraudulent reimbursement requests.
Mr. Wright has been key to the representation of clients facing novel and unprecedented litigation threats in high-profile cases. He recently assisted a healthcare network in one of the largest antitrust matters in the country by leading trial preparation for a team of more than 20 attorneys, including coordination with multiple law firms.
Mr. Wright believes strongly that community involvement matters: whether through volunteering legal services or simply being present. The best example of his commitment is opening his home with his husband to serve as foster parents for Los Angeles County and providing children with a safe and stable environment. Since 2017, he has been on the Leadership Council of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice. In that role, he recruits volunteer attorneys to staff the Center's virtual intake sessions and helps victims of domestic violence to obtain temporary restraining orders, a need that has become far more profound during the COVID pandemic.
Original source can be found here.