Anne R. Yearwood
E: ayearwood@kaplanhecker.com
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Anne R. Yearwood is a senior associate at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP.
At Kaplan Hecker, Anne’s practice focuses on criminal defense internal investigations, as well as complex civil litigation matters and a robust pro bono practice. Anne represents companies and individuals in investigations by the DOJ, SEC, FTC, and state and international regulators and law enforcement agencies. She represents individuals on matters involving securities fraud, FCPA violations, money laundering, healthcare fraud, and antitrust violations. She also advises boards of directors in connection with internal investigations into corporate governance and compensation issues across a wide variety of industries. In addition to her white-collar practice, she represents corporations in high stakes complex commercial disputes, helping steer companies through conflicts using novel legal strategies.
Anne also has a broad public interest practice. She represents indigent criminal defendants pro bono in both federal and state criminal prosecutions. She also represents individuals in civil rights cases brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 involving police misconduct and in employment discrimination cases involving allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
Anne joined the firm from Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. At Davis Polk, Anne maintained a generalist practice that included commercial civil litigation and white collar defense. Anne advised large financial institutions, law firms, corporations, and individuals in investigations by the DOJ, SEC, Federal Reserve, OFAC, and state and international financial regulators and law enforcement agencies involving inquiries into FCPA violations, money laundering, sanctions violations, and wire and securities fraud. Anne also represented institutional clients in complex civil litigation and arbitration, including in cases involving allegations of securities fraud, contract disputes, professional malpractice claims, and intellectual property disputes. Anne also represented numerous clients pro bono and achieved several successful outcomes, including obtaining a reversal in the 2d Circuit on denial of an asylum claim, vacating a state law conspiracy conviction in the Second Department, submitting a white paper in connection with the remedies phase of the stop-and-frisk class action settlements relating to Floyd v. City of New York that included recommendations ultimately adopted by the court, and winning summary judgment in a Hague Convention case on behalf of a refugee mother seeking to live with her children in the United States. Before joining the firm, Anne also clerked for the Honorable Kenneth M. Karas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Anne received her law degree magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif and received the Darrow Scholarship, a full merit scholarship. At Michigan Law, Anne was a contributing editor of the Michigan Law Review, a student attorney in the human trafficking clinic, the Judges Chair of the Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition Board, and a research assistant to Professors Nina Mendelson and Julian Mortenson. During law school, Anne also served as a student representative on the Educational Environment Committee, and was treasurer of the Black Law Students Association.
Prior to law school, Anne worked as a housing manager at Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, overseeing operation of a program which provides transitional independent living services for survivors of domestic and international human trafficking and sexual exploitation. She also worked as a judicial intern for Judge Pamela K. Chen of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Anne received her B.A. from Georgetown University.
