Anne Uyeda

Overview

Anne serves as the Chief Operating Officer and Assistant General Counsel of Bienert Katzman Littrell Williams LLP.  She oversees the day-to-day operations of the firm and is responsible for developing and implementing strategy, policies, and procedures that promote efficiency and productivity.  She also provides legal advice and support to the General Counsel and senior management on various matters, including contract negotiation, risk management, governance, and strategic initiatives.  

Before transitioning into firm administration, Anne spent nearly two decades litigating complex civil and white collar criminal defense matters, as well as insolvency cases.  She has represented federal agencies, public companies, counties, insurance companies and brokers, general partnerships, and witnesses in significant contract disputes, environmental disputes, business tort actions, shareholder derivative actions, bankruptcy matters, complex securities actions, and federal civil and criminal investigations.

While at BKLW, Anne has represented the owner and operator of a large produce farm in Hawaii against forced labor charges and related felony counts (Case No. 1:09-cr-00345-SOM-1).  Five days into the trial, the U.S. Department of Justice dismissed all charges against her client.  She was also part of the trial team that defended a former employee of a substance abuse treatment facility accused of felony dependent adult abuse.  After a nearly four-week trial, Anne and the BKLW team secured a mistrial, which led to the government dismissing the charge against her client and all charges against related co-defendants.  She also assisted in the defense of a doctor charged with five felony counts of tax evasion.  The Firm’s team exposed serious prosecutorial misconduct that led to the removal and discipline of the entire prosecution team and IRS investigators.  All five felonies were dismissed in exchange for a plea to a single misdemeanor and a single payment of $25.  

Anne was also part of the BKLW team that represented a parent charged in the District of Massachusetts with conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and money laundering as part of the novel “Varsity Blues” case, as well as the BKLW team that secured a global misdemeanor settlement for her client and several other technology professionals charged in one of the first federal prosecutions under the CAN-SPAM Act.  She was also part of the BKLW team that helped secured a misdemeanor plea deal for a licensed medical professional charged with ten felonies alleging insurance fraud.  

Anne has also been involved in numerous bankruptcy cases and adversary proceedings.  Among other things, she represented the Official Committee of Retired Employees in the Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy case of In re City of San Bernardino (Case No. 6:12-bk-28006-SC), which represented the interests of more than two-thousand retired City employees in this municipal bankruptcy case.  Anne and the BKLW team succeeded in preserving full retention of the pensions for all of the San Bernardino retirees.  In addition, she represented a federal bankruptcy trustee in the pursuit of over $1 million belonging to a bankruptcy estate, an oil and gas company and two of its principals in a bankruptcy court proceeding regarding an alleged violation of a temporary restraining order, and the Chapter 7 Trustee of one of the largest law firm bankruptcy cases in the country (In re Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP, Case No. 03-32715), in his capacity as Senior Managing Director of FTI Consulting.   

On the civil side, Anne was part of the team representing Larry Flynt’s widow in a civil action filed by Mr. Flynt’s estranged brother, which resulted in the brother dismissing all of his claims with prejudice and entering into a walkaway settlement after a year and a half of litigation.  She has also represented the operator of a government-owned wastewater treatment facility accused of violating the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a former supervisor of a waste management company in a criminal investigation into Clean Water Act and other violations, U.S.-based pharmaceutical distributors accused of misappropriating trade secrets from a foreign competitor, and a court-appointed receiver for a licensed California cannabis oil manufacturer.

Anne is a member of the Orange County Bar Association, the Association of Legal Administrators (“ALA”), and the Orange County Chapter of ALA (“OC-ALA”). She currently serves on the Project SELF Committee for OC-ALA.

Anne served as a panelist on municipal bankruptcies at the 2015 National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Annual Convention held in New Orleans, Louisiana.  She previously served on the Board of Directors for Friends of READ Orange County, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the literary services provided by Orange County public libraries.

Prior to joining Bienert Katzman Littrell Williams LLP, Anne practiced in the litigation departments of Musick, Peeler & Garrett in Los Angeles and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Orange County.

Anne earned her law degree from UCLA, where she received the Blanche H. Lyle Scholarship and the Distinguished Pro Bono Student Award.  She graduated cum laude from U.C. Irvine with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.  While at U.C. Irvine, she was awarded the Regents’ Scholarship four straight years, named to the Dean’s List every year she was eligible, and was elected as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.