L. Ashley Aull

A seasoned trial and appellate attorney, Ms. Aull litigates business-critical and crisis cases, including commercial and intellectual property disputes. She has led over a dozen trials, arbitrations, or other high-stakes evidentiary hearings, and she has argued 45 cases at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She is also a proven leader and strategist, who guides teams through the most complex, high-pressure litigation—and who previously served as the chief of a section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Having served as a federal prosecutor for nearly a decade, she also counsels clients through government investigations and defends those charged with white-collar crimes.

Her recent representations include:

• Representing a Fortune 100 technology company as co-lead trial counsel in an over $1 billion arbitration involving contract and accounting disputes. Her team achieved a complete defense victory and won close to $100 million on counter-claims.
• Serving as co-lead trial counsel for Activision Blizzard, Inc., in a complex class action involving parallel state and federal proceedings, in which the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing seeks to represent every woman who has ever worked the company and its affiliates.
• Representing Snap, Inc., in a wrongful death and products-liability case regarding the so-called “Speed Filter.”
• Arguing multiple Ninth Circuit appeals on behalf of Activision Blizzard, Inc. and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.—in cases involving the Federal Arbitration Act and complex civil-procedural questions.
• Representing Google, LLC and PNC Bank in patent cases in the Eastern District of Texas, where she led the development of both non-infringement and damages theories regarding highly technical software patents.
• Leading investigations on behalf of an international government contractor facing potential False Claims Act liability.
• Serving as co-lead trial counsel for a creditor in Revlon, Inc.’s $4 billion bankruptcy—including deposing multiple witnesses, preparing expert reports, and leading a high-stakes evidentiary hearing within three weeks’ time.

Ms. Aull rejoined Munger, Tolles & Olson in 2021 after nine years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California—the largest federal prosecutors’ office in the country—where she spent her last several years as Chief of the Criminal Appeals Section. In that role, she led a large team of other prosecutors, overseeing approximately 300 appeals per year; she was lead counsel in dozens of appeals before the Ninth Circuit; and she worked closely with prosecutors on high-profile cases in the trial court. She obtained convictions in multiple jury trials.  She also engineered a multi-year test litigation strategy to overturn an erroneous Ninth Circuit opinion about the organic chemistry of methamphetamine.

She received the EOUSA Director’s Award, the highest honor available specifically to federal prosecutors. She was also a member of the faculty of the Department of Justice’s national training facility, where she taught trial and appellate advocacy to other federal prosecutors.

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ms. Aull was an associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Ms. Aull earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School and her A.B., magna cum laude, in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard College. After law school, she served as a law clerk to Judge Sandra Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Harriet O’Neill of the Supreme Court of Texas. She has served as a lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, and she was selected by the Circuit as a member of its inaugural Law Clerk Resources Group.