Mari Henderson is an attorney at Quinn Emanuel, voted the Most Feared Law Firm in the World. With a background as a criminal prosecutor and on-air news reporter, Mari represents companies and individuals in high stakes litigation and advises clients navigating both the court of law and the court of public opinion. She helped launch the firm’s Crisis Law and Strategy practice group, which provides legal and public relations assistance to companies and individuals facing scandals in the public eye.
She has defended major California companies including Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and the University of Southern California (USC) in cases ranging from employment discrimination to lawsuits stemming from one of the largest wildfires in California history. She has also defended C-suite executives in white collar federal cases, state criminal cases and civil sexual assault, discrimination and harassment cases. In addition to litigation, Mari has experience conducting internal investigations into workplace abuse and harassment claims, where she relies on her background as a sex crimes prosecutor.
She previously worked as a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles, where she handled a range of felonies, including murder, sex crimes and domestic violence cases. As lead counsel, she took numerous cases to jury trial, resulting in guilty verdicts against the defendants, and conducted hundreds of hearings. She handled high-profile criminal prosecutions involving celebrity defendants and victims.
As an on-air legal analyst, she has appeared on ABC News Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, E! News, KTLA, CNN, Oxygen, Investigation Discovery and Reelz. She has also contributed to Dan Abrams' Law and Crime, Huffington Post, CBS News Radio, ABC News Radio and CKNW Radio.
Mari graduated from UCLA Law School. Before going to law school, she was an on-air reporter for NY1 News, where she covered politics, crime, and breaking news in New York City.
Mari graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a bachelors degree and masters degree in Broadcast Journalism.