Katy Sharp is a senior associate in the Los Angeles office of Gibson Dunn, where she practices in the firm's Litigation Department. She is a member of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations and False Claims Act / Qui Tam Defense practice groups. She has represented clients in the technology, energy, healthcare, retail, banking, education, construction management, and telecommunications sectors in both litigation and investigation matters.
Katy’s practice focuses on leading teams in high-stakes litigation and investigations. Clients rely on her to effectively and efficiently navigate them through large-scale civil discovery. Katy leads discovery at all stages, including managing document collection and production, drafting and responding to discovery requests, engaging in related meet-and-confers and motion practice, preparing lay and expert witnesses, and taking and defending depositions.
Katy represents clients in both federal and state courts and has experience at all stages of litigation, including senior case management, pre-trial dispositive motions, motions in limine, lay witness preparation, and working with experts.
Additionally, Katy represents both individuals and companies in criminal matters and investigations by federal and state government entities such as the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Securities and Exchange Commission, and various state Attorneys General and state regulatory agencies.
Katy’s representative matters include:
- Representing a major oil production company in a case spanning more than seven years that resulted in a four-week jury trial in state court in a matter involving tort claims and highly complex and technical facts. Katy led the discovery team in an effort that lasted over three years and included over 1,500 written discovery requests, production of over 800,000 pages of documents, subpoenas to 40 third parties, and depositions of 68 lay witnesses and ten expert witnesses. She was a key member of the trial team, including leading and developing trial logistics throughout the in-person state trial held during the global pandemic.
- After taking over a case from another law firm, representing a construction management company in a successful motion for summary judgment in what was at the time the longest-running state False Claims Act suit in California history and successfully defending motion before Court of Appeal.
- Multiple investigations representing clients in the technology sector, including a recent representation of a large technology company in which Katy, a core member of the team, succeeded in the Federal Trade Commission declining to take further action against the company.
Katy takes great pride in her pro bono work, which has included successfully negotiating a settlement and obtaining cancellation of a quitclaim deed in a financial elder abuse case, obtaining Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for a child from El Salvador, and prevailing on a motion to have a plaintiff who filed frivolous lawsuits declared a vexatious litigant in a trial court action in which the plaintiff sued Gibson Dunn’s clients for libel after a newspaper published articles exposing the plaintiff’s scams.
Katy earned her law degree from the University of Southern California, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as a copy editor on the Southern California Law Review. While at the University of Southern California, Katy was a writing fellow in the Legal Writing and Advocacy Program and externed in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Yale University.
Capabilities
Credentials
Education:
- University of Southern California - 2010 Juris Doctor
- Yale University - 2002 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- California Bar