Hartley M.K. West

Hartley M.K. West, co-chair of the Enforcement and Investigations practice group, is a high-stakes trial attorney with extensive experience in cross-border government enforcement defense and asset forfeiture matters. Ms. West frequently advises multinational corporations, privately held companies, and executives facing investigations into alleged violations of fraud, corruption, trade secret, antitrust, sanctions, and money laundering laws, particularly in the life sciences and technology sectors including cryptocurrency. She also conducts internal investigations and reviews on behalf of companies, their boards of directors, and audit committees, as well as representing clients in fraud-related civil litigations – including false labeling actions, securities class actions and shareholder derivative suits – and founder disputes. She has handled matters involving the US DOJ, SEC, CFTC, FTC, and numerous State Attorneys General, as well as government enforcement counterparts across Asia and Europe. 

Ms. West is consistently recognized as a leading lawyer across legal publications. Ranked in Chambers USA and recognized in The Legal 500, she is described as “a brilliant trial attorney and a great strategist,” “extraordinarily knowledgeable, client focused,” and “incredibly intelligent, hard-working and very savvy.” Client testimonials note her ability to “magic results out of very difficult facts and circumstances” and regard her as "one of the top professionals in her field.” She has been named among the top Women in Investigations by Global Investigations Review and awarded “California Lawyer of the Year” for Criminal Law. Her cases have been featured in Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Blunt’s book California Burning (2022), CNBC’s “American Greed” documentary Burned by Greed (2021), Pete Crooks’ book The Setup: A True Story of Dirty Cops, Soccer Moms, and Reality TV (2015), and NPR’s “This American Life” (2011).

In addition to her trial and investigations expertise, Ms. West has briefed and argued dozens of cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

From 2002 to 2017, Ms. West served in the Department of Justice as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, including as Deputy Chief of its Economic Crimes and Securities Fraud Section. She also clerked for the Honorable John T. Noonan Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to joining Dechert, Ms. West served as a partner at another international law firm.