Patrick Hunnius is Senior Counsel to DLA Piper's Litigation practice, based in Los Angeles.

Mr. Hunnius regularly represents both individuals and issuers in Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, NYSE, FINRA and other securities regulators’ inquiries. He also has extensive experience conducting internal investigations, including investigations related to alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and financial fraud. Similarly, he has a wide range of experience in securities and complex business litigation, including defending clients in securities class actions and shareholder derivative actions.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Hunnius was an SEC enforcement attorney and for several years was the supervisor in charge of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office's Internet Branch. At the Commission, he managed teams of attorneys who investigated and litigated a wide range of cases, including financial fraud, offering fraud, insider trading, market manipulation and alleged failures to supervise.

Current representative engagements include:

• Representation of an accounting firm in connection with the SEC’s investigation of the firm’s private equity fund client’s valuations for certain assets
• Representing a Chinese company and several of its officers and directors in a federal securities class action case
• Representing an oil and gas producer and several of its officers and directors in securities class actions and related derivative litigation relating to the producer’s acquisition of drilling and exploration rights in Alaska
• Representing the receiver appointed by the Central District of California to administer an estate associated with a nearly $1 billion alleged Ponzi scheme
• Representing a national broker-dealer in investigations relating to auction rate securities
• Engagements ranging from crisis-management counseling to representation before the SEC and NASD involving Chinese companies apparently targeted by short sellers

Significant recent experience includes:

• Represented a broker-dealer in connection with 50-state settlement with state securities commissions regarding auction rate securities
• Successful representation of an accounting firm in SEC investigation of its audit work for a hedge fund focused on life settlements. After receiving Wells notice, persuaded staff not to pursue enforcement action
• Represented a foreign private issuer in connection with a formal SEC investigation of alleged options backdating. The Commission ultimately took no enforcement action against the client
• Won summary judgment for a foreign sovereign in a commercial fraud case involving claimed damages in excess of $800 million (and dismissal of a related case involving $100 million in damages)
• Both coordinated a worldwide review of FCPA compliance for a $9 billion health care company with operations in more than 150 countries and conducted several extensive FCPA-compliance audits and internal investigations in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe
• Won motion to dismiss a class action in which a cable provider of VoIP telecommunications services was accused of slamming, fraud and violations of RICO, and winning the appeal, Clark v. Time Warner Cable, 523 F. 3d 110 (9th Cir. 2008)
• Obtained voluntary dismissal, on all claims, of a nationwide class action against a telecommunications provider accused of slamming, violations of California’s UCL and Legal Remedies Act
• Won summary judgment on all claims for a client in a dispute concerning the proposed sale of a $10 million property in La Quinta, California
• Won trial for an international watch distributor, on all claims, and
• Represented Log Cabin Republicans, both in its ultimately successful challenge to the government's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy (Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America) and as an amicus curiae in the California Supreme Court's cases concerning the constitutionality of Proposition 8