Debevoise & Plimpton LLP’s women litigators have again been named among the top lawyers in Benchmark Litigation’s “Top 250 Women in Litigation” for 2022. The annual list recognizes “the most distinguished women in the world of litigation.”

Since the inception of Benchmark Litigation's "Top 250 Women in Litigation" list in 2013, the firm's partners have been recognized every year for demonstrating its tradition of serving clients at the highest levels and of contributing to the development and advancement of distinguished women leaders.

This year’s nine honorees represent a wide array of litigation expertise:

Mary Jo White, Senior Chair of the firm and leader of the Strategic Crisis Response and Solutions Group, specializes in multifaceted government investigations and white collar, SEC enforcement and internal investigations. Ms. White has decades of experience, having served as Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and as a well-known private practitioner in high-profile matters.

Mary Beth Hogan, Co-Chair of the Litigation Department, focuses on sensitive investigations involving companies, educational institutions and non profits. She often advises boards of directors on these and other governance-related matters. Ms. Hogan’s practice also includes government enforcement actions involving the Department of Justice, State Attorneys General, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, New York’s Department of Financial Services and other federal and state regulators.

Catherine Amirfar, Co-Chair of Debevoise’s International Dispute Resolution Group and the Public International Law Group, and a member of the firm’s Management Committee, routinely represents multinational corporations, sovereign states and international organizations before international arbitration tribunals and U.S. and international courts. From 2014–2016, Ms. Amirfar served as the Counselor on International Law at the U.S. Department of State in the Obama Administration.

Helen Cantwell, partner, focuses on white collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement actions and internal investigations for a wide variety of corporations, financial institutions and non-profits. Prior to joining Debevoise, Ms. Cantwell served for eight years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Susan Gittes, partner, focuses on complex civil litigation and regulatory inquiries and has significant experience in federal and state courts, with a focus on representing insurance companies in a broad range of litigation and regulatory matters and in defending securities and fiduciary duty litigation.

Maura Monaghan, Co-Chair of the Commercial Litigation and Healthcare & Life Sciences Groups, focuses on a wide range of complex commercial litigation including products liability and mass tort litigation and environmental, healthcare, regulatory and criminal investigations and arbitration.

Maeve O'Connor, Co-Chair of the firm’s Securities Litigation practice and Chair of the firm’s Insurance Litigation practice and a former member of the firm’s Management Committee, specializes in defending securities and fiduciary duty litigation and in representing financial services companies in a range of complex and high-stakes litigation and regulatory matters.

Natalie Reid, Co-Chair of the firm’s Public International Law Group and Co-Chair of the Caribbean practice, specializes in international arbitration, public international law and complex commercial litigation matters. Ms. Reid regularly acts as counsel in commercial and treaty arbitrations and represents sovereign states, multinational corporations, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations.

Shannon Rose Selden, partner, leads the firm’s Asset Management Litigation practice and is Co-Coordinator of the firm’s Private Equity Group. Ms. Selden has a broad practice representing hedge fund and private equity clients, as plaintiffs and defendants, in complex, high-stakes litigation. Ms. Selden has significant experience as lead counsel in state and federal courts in the full range of matters affecting asset management firms, including merger, securities, contract, corporate governance, fiduciary, financing and debt restructuring disputes.

The honorees led some of the most significant litigation matters and were selected based on several phases of research including review of recent case work, peer reviews and client feedback.