Tara Lee is one of the leading trial lawyers in the United States. She was named the U.S. Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2017 by Benchmark Litigation, the first woman ever to receive that distinction. Her investigations and litigation practice includes some of the highest profile civil litigation, white collar and corporate crime, and investigations in the country. She has numerous awards for her skills as a trial advocate and has been consistently ranked as one of America’s leading lawyers by Chambers USA. In past years she has been recognized as one of the top Female Powerbrokers in Law by Law360, a Pioneer and Trailblazer in Litigation by the National Law Journal, one of the Ten Most Innovative Lawyers in the US by the Financial Times, and one of the Top 100 Women in Investigations by GIR. While serving on active duty in the Jag Corps she was named the ATLA Outstanding Military Trial Lawyer.She is particularly adept at understanding and guiding clients through the public relations aspects of crisis investigations and high-stakes litigation, and began her private practice career defending litigation and conducting investigations for clients operating in high-risk and unstable environments, work that often required working with witnesses and documents in war zones. She has testified as an expert witness before the Senate Judiciary Committee on extraterritorial accountability issues and has twice been invited to the United Nations to address UN Working Groups on matters concerning the U.S. civil litigation exposure of businesses operating overseas. She also has significant experience running high visibility investigations and litigation for universities and professional sports franchise/tournament owners and is skilled in leading a full community of stakeholders through the appropriate balance of advocacy and communications response to a crisis. Previously, Tara served as cochair-of Quinn Emanuel’s National Trial Practice. At DLA Piper she was co-chair of the Global Investigations practice as well as the Global Chair of the firm’s Cross Border Litigation practices. Prior to law school, she was as an officer in the United States Navy, serving in a US Navy helicopter squadron and in staff positions at Wing and AirPac commands.