Alston & Bird has broadened its white collar, securities enforcement, and complex civil litigation and trial capabilities with the addition of Joanna C. Hendon as a litigation partner in the firm’s New York office. A former federal prosecutor with more than 25 years of trial experience, Hendon joins from litigation boutique Spears & Imes LLP, where she had been a partner since 2012.

“Joanna brings a tremendous career marked by an impeccable track record, brilliant experience, and sound counsel in the most sensitive matters,” said Alston & Bird Chairman and Managing Partner Richard Hays. “She is one of the very best in the country, and her joining continues our long tradition of leadership at trial and in white collar defense.”

Hendon has tried numerous cases in federal court and in arbitration, frequently representing clients facing more than one government investigation at a time and parallel civil litigation. In 2017, she defended at trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York an investment adviser accused of securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, and other crimes. In 2011, she defended the first of the “expert network” insider trading cases brought to trial in the Southern District of New York. She has also represented institutions and individuals in investigations by and matters involving the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Federal Reserve, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, New York Department of Financial Services, New York Attorney General’s Office, and other state attorneys general and regulators.

Early in her career, Hendon served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. In that capacity, she served in the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force and prosecuted cases involving securities fraud, bribery, mail and wire fraud, and tax fraud. During her years as a prosecutor, Hendon tried numerous cases to verdict and argued appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 2000, the U.S. Department of Justice honored Hendon with the U.S. Attorney General’s John Marshall Award, the department’s highest award for excellence at trial.

After her government service, Hendon was assistant general counsel at Merrill Lynch & Co. from 2006 to 2009, where she oversaw all criminal enforcement matters worldwide. She also clerked for the Hon. Frank M. Coffin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1991 to 1992. Hendon received her undergraduate degree from the University of British Columbia and her law degree from Yale University.

“Joanna is a highly sophisticated, strategic litigator, known for extraordinarily effective written and oral advocacy on behalf of clients in high-stakes, regulatory, criminal, and civil matters,” said Brett Jaffe, Alston & Bird partner and co-chair of the firm’s Litigation & Trial Practice Group. “She is incredibly smart, creative, and tireless in her advocacy, and she is totally committed to what matters most: driving exceptional results for clients.”

Active in the legal community, Hendon is a member of the board of directors of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. She also serves on the advisory board of the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law.

Hendon is the most recent addition to Alston & Bird’s white collar and corporate investigations team. She follows Joey Burby, who joined as partner in Atlanta in February, and Jenny Kramer, who joined as partner in New York in 2018.

“We are excited to have Joanna join our team as we continue to add to our deep and dynamic bench of lawyers offering both government-side and private practice experience in New York and nationwide,” said James Sullivan, partner-in-charge of Alston & Bird’s New York office. “Her extensive experience acting for individuals and corporations in market-leading mandates makes her an incredible asset for clients seeking attorneys who can represent them in high-profile criminal and civil disputes.”