Wrenn Chais

Since 1989, Wrenn E. Chais has consistently been engaged in securities-related litigation with particular emphasis on directors and officers liability and insurance coverage issues, accountant liability and white collar crime. She has litigated matters in arbitration tribunals and administrative, state and federal courts, at both the trial and appellate level.

She has been engaged in the defense of numerous class actions, derivative actions and SEC investigations and proceedings. In these matters, she has represented directors, officers, corporations, financial institutions, brokerage firms, investment advisors, accounting firms and their individual auditors, and directors and officers liability and comprehensive general liability insurance carriers.

She also has represented special committees of boards of directors in connection with derivative matters. Wrenn has also represented auditors and auditing firms in connection with investigations by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Department of the Treasury.

Among her recent representations, Wrenn has:

• Petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review an order of the Securities and Exchange Commission barring auditors from appearing or practicing before the Commission under Rule 102(e) resulting in the reversal of the Commission’s opinion and order.
• Represented an officer of publicly traded high tech company in connection with allegations of backdating stock options before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Special Committee of the Board of Directors and in securities class action litigation.
• Represented the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of a publicly traded high tech company in connection with their investigation of potential violation of securities laws and breach of fiduciary duties.
• Represented an accounting firm before the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with alleged violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Professional History : Of Counsel, Locke Lord LLP

Education :

• J.D., cum laude, Pepperdine University School of Law, 1989
• B.B.A., Texas Christian University, 1984

Admissions :

• California, 1989
• District of Columbia, 1989
• U.S. Supreme Court, 2000

Admitted To Practice :

• U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 1990
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, 1990
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, 1990
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1989
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 2004