Devon E. Porter

Ms. Porter represents clients in complex civil litigation, business disputes, and white collar criminal defense matters. She has significant courtroom and trial experience, including helping secure a favorable verdict for the co-founder of a publicly traded pharmaceutical company in a high-stakes personal injury jury trial after being retained just ten days before trial, saving the client more than $40 million in potential damages. Her experience also includes conducting jury selection in a high-stakes civil trial, examining expert witnesses in arbitration proceedings, and serving on trial teams in both civil and class action jury trials.

In addition to her trial work, Ms. Porter has obtained favorable outcomes for clients in a wide range of matters. She has successfully represented clients in pre-indictment criminal investigations, helping avoid prosecution, secured a time-served sentence for a client facing the possibility of decades in prison, obtained a total defense verdict in an executive compensation arbitration, and obtained an early favorable settlement for founders of a technology start-up in litigation arising from a transaction valued at more than $200 million. Ms. Porter also maintains an active pro bono practice, including recently obtaining a favorable settlement that prevented the eviction of a disabled tenant facing discrimination.

Before joining Bird Marella, Ms. Porter worked as an attorney in the Capital Habeas Units of the Los Angeles and Philadelphia Federal Public Defender offices. As a deputy federal public defender, Ms. Porter successfully represented clients on death row challenging the bases of their convictions and sentences. Ms. Porter received her J.D. from Yale Law School. After graduating, Ms. Porter clerked for the Honorable Richard A. Paez on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Porter also served as a Yale Law Liman Fellow with the ACLU of Southern California, where she helped litigate and reach a favorable settlement in a lawsuit challenging the Los Angeles Superior Court’s practice of suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid traffic fines.