Original Jurisdiction
Original Jurisdiction
Managing Through Crisis: Debra Wong Yang
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Managing Through Crisis: Debra Wong Yang

From prosecutor to judge to Biglaw partner, Debra Wong Yang has seen a lot—and acquired much wisdom—over a long and varied legal career.

Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at davidlat@substack.com. This is a reader-supported publication; you can subscribe by clicking here.


Is it just me, or are crises popping up all over the place? Major corporations, top law firms, and leading universities—among many other institutions—seem to be lurching from one crisis to another. And they need help—often from lawyers and law firms.

So it was an opportune time for me to welcome to the podcast one of the nation’s leading experts on crisis management: Debra Wong Yang, a longtime partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she chairs the crisis-management practice. Before joining Gibson, Debra served as U.S. attorney for the Central District of California (aka Los Angeles), and before that, she spent five years as a California state-court judge. These experiences equipped her well to help clients navigate some very challenging situations—a number of which we cover in our conversation.

If you’re involved in leading an organization that could face a crisis in the future—which is pretty much every organization—you’ll benefit from hearing about Debra’s experiences in the trenches, as well as her advice on how to prepare for a possible crisis. My thanks to Deb for taking the time to share what she’s learned over her long and distinguished legal career.

Show Notes:

Prefer reading to listening? For paid subscribers, a transcript of the entire episode appears below.

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Debra Wong Yang (courtesy photo via Gibson Dunn)

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