Debra recently obtained a significant victory for a regional hospital as the lead trial counsel in a lease dispute involving intricate questions of hospital licensing. After successfully expunging a lis pendens that threatened the sale of the hospital, she proceeded to secure a complete defense judgment for the hospital, and her client was awarded attorneys fees and costs in a seven-figure amount. Debra also represents health care entities in peer review-related hearings and litigation.

She was also instrumental in obtaining a favorable settlement in a highly publicized and contentious dispute between family members owning the 11th largest winery in the nation. Brought into the case only eight weeks before trial, she quickly mastered the case, argued several key dispositive motions and handled the execution of the complex settlement involving over 20 trust and other settlement documents.

In other matters, Debra represents landowners in various states in connection with Fifth Amendment takings claims arising out of the federal government’s conversion of property under the federal National Trails System Act. These cases are litigated and tried in the federal Court of Claims.

Prior to joining Arent Fox, Debra was a partner in the Los Angeles office of a large international law firm, where she served as a key member of several national trial teams.

Debra is the past chair of the Litigation Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. She also served on the board of governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers.

Debra was listed as one of Lawdragon’s Magazine’s “Top 500 Leading Litigation Lawyers of 2006.” She has been named as a “Super Lawyer” by Los Angeles Magazine every year since 2004 and is rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale Hubbell.

Debra has developed an MCLE program, “Boilerplate Bombshells: Commonly Ignored Standard Terms That Can Torpedo Your Case,” in  which she advises transactional and litigation counsel about the pitfalls of common “boilerplate” terms in contracts and how to avoid them.  Debra has presented this program to in-house counsel throughout California and New York.

She is a frequent lecturer and commentator for the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the media. She lectures on trial strategy at Loyola Law School and Pepperdine University School of Law.