Katherine Wawrzyniak, a former federal prosecutor, has recently been announced as a new partner of Goodwin Procter in its San Francisco office. Wawrzyniak’s career has put her in the lead of prominent government cases such as the prosecution of Anthony Levandowski, the former Google engineer, and Yevgeniy Nukulin, a Russian hacker.
Prior to this, Wawrzyniak held positions at O’Melveny & Myer and the US attorney’s office in Northern California, giving her extensive experience in the field. While at the US attorney’s office, she served as the assistant US attorney for the corporate fraud and organized crime and drug enforcement task force. Also, she worked as the co-chief of the general crimes section in 2020, leading to roles as acting chief and deputy chief of the criminal division. In these capacities, she supervised approximately 95 assistant US attorneys.
Levandowski’s case, led by Wawrzyniak, concerned the theft of trade secrets related to self-driven vehicles. The engineering professional was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2020 but subsequently pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2021. Interestingly, Goodwin Procter is now representing Levandowski within a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case that originated from a $179 million arbitration award against him for Google.
Additionally, Wawrzyniak led the case against Nukulin, resulting in a seven-year prison sentence for the hacker after a six-day jury trial in late 2020. The charges were due to the hacking of companies such as LinkedIn, DropBox, and FormSpring.
Looking forward, Wawrzyniak has voiced ambitions stating, “I hope to be the kind of lawyer that helps clients with their thorniest legal problems, whether that’s an intractable matter that’s looks like it’s headed toward trial or a highly sensitive government investigation.”
Goodwin Procter looks forward to expanding its white-collar defense and government investigations practice with the addition of Wawrzyniak. Jennifer Fisher, head of Goodwin’s litigation department for Northern California, emphasized the need for lawyers in Northern California well-versed in disruptive technologies, as well as having a practical approach for helping clients navigate government scrutiny.
For more extensive information, check out the full report on Bloomberg.