Mary Kay Dunning is an associate in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice. Ms. Dunning’s practice includes white collar defense, securities litigation, complex commercial litigation, internal and regulatory investigations, and global anti-corruption matters.
Ms. Dunning has represented financial institutions and individuals in insider trading investigations and regularly counsels clients regarding compliance with the securities laws. Recently, she was a member of the Gibson Dunn team that won summary judgment for a hedge fund manager in an SEC insider trading case, after more than four years of litigation. She was also part of the team that recently convinced the SEC to decline to charge a public company’s general counsel for insider trading. She also represents multinational companies in government and internal investigations pursuant to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and she assists clients in drafting FCPA policies and strengthening their anti-bribery compliance programs. Ms. Dunning also has experience in counseling boards of directors of public companies on corporate governance issues, and she has worked on teams that have conducted confidential investigations for boards of directors and privately held companies.
Ms. Dunning’s pro bono work includes matters related to civil rights and immigration. She was part of a team of Gibson Dunn attorneys who represented plaintiffs on a pro bono basis in a high-profile immigration civil rights case (Barrera v. Boughton), which resulted in a favorable settlement for the plaintiffs and earned Gibson Dunn the National Legal Aid & Defender Association’s 2010 Beacon of Justice Award.
In 2004, Ms. Dunning graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was the Publications Editor of The Tax Lawyer. Upon graduation, she served as a law clerk to The Honorable Deborah T. Poritz, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Ms. Dunning received a Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude in Romance Languages and Literatures from Princeton University in 1999. She then joined Teach For America and spent two years teaching public school in Newark, New Jersey, before going to law school.
Ms. Dunning is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.