Mark Yohalem

Mark R. Yohalem is a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson, where he focuses on complex litigation and appeals. He has argued over thirty-five cases in federal and state court, twice before en banc panels of the Ninth Circuit, and has successfully conducted jury trials involving public corruption and other federal offenses.

Among his representations, Mark has defended media companies in trial and appellate matters concerning the First Amendment and corporate control; retailers in state and federal tax appeals; energy companies in federal trial court proceedings and appeals, and state administrative proceedings; and a variety of clients in pro bono matters before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2018, he was named one of the Daily Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40.” He has also received commendations from the Anti-Defamation League, the Supreme Court of Thailand, the FBI, the Department of Defense, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bar Association.

Representative Matters:

• ITV Gurney Holding, Inc., a subsidiary of one of the preeminent UK media companies, in arguing and winning an initial appeal that overturned a preliminary injunction and restored control of Gurney Productions to ITV, and a subsequent appeal winning dismissal under California’s anti-SLAPP statute of claims against ITV
• Former Los Angeles City Attorney, in arguing and winning complete dismissal of all State Bar disciplinary charges
• Retail Litigation Center, a trade organization that includes the country’s leading retailers, in drafting an amicus curiae brief cited repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court in South Dakota v. Wayfair
• Norton Simon Museum in two successful appeals before the Ninth Circuit in a long-running dispute over ownership of two paintings forcibly sold to the Nazis and returned to the Netherlands following World War II

Mark joined Munger, Tolles & Olson in 2016 after serving as the Deputy Chief of Appeals at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. During his seven-year tenure as a federal prosecutor, Mark worked on many of the U.S.A.O.’s highest profile matters, including the well-publicized dispute between Apple and the FBI regarding the unlocking of the iPhone belonging to one of the terrorists in the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. In addition to arguing and trying numerous cases, he wrote and revised hundreds of appellate briefs, including successful petitions for rehearing and rehearing en banc.

Mark has delivered lectures at the Supreme Court of Thailand and the U.S. Supreme Court, and he has taught appellate advocacy, cyberlaw and jury selection at the National Advocacy Center, the USC Gould School of Law, the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office and American Bar Association conferences. He currently serves as a Programming Co-Chair of the Appellate Division of the American Bar Association and regularly publishes and speaks about appellate advocacy and recent appellate decisions.

Alongside his legal career, Mark is a prolific author. He has written stories for many award-winning computer games and has published dozens of short stories. He also penned two episodes of an animated children’s television show. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Mark clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and Judge Pamela A. Rymer of the Ninth Circuit.

Education:

• Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 2005); notes editor and Developments in the Law chair, Harvard Law Review; First Place, Williston Competition
• Dartmouth College (B.A., magna cum laude, 2002); Phi Beta Kappa; Rufus Choate Scholar

Bar Admissions : California