Abbey Hudson

Abbey Hudson
Partner, Gibson Dunn

Abbey Hudson is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s Los Angeles office. Her practice focuses on environmental matters and complex trial litigation. She devotes a significant portion of her time to helping clients navigate environmental and emerging regulations and related governmental investigations.

Environmental and Mass Tort Litigation and Regulatory Compliance. Ms. Hudson has handled all aspects of environmental and mass tort litigation and regulatory compliance. She has provided counseling and advice on environmental and regulatory compliance to clients on a wide range of issues, including supply chain transparency requirements, comments on pending regulatory developments, and enforcement counseling. She has experience handling California environmental matters that involve the California Air Resources Board, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the Department of Conservation- Division of Oil Gas and Geothermal Research, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board – Los Angeles Region.

Litigation. Over the past decade, Ms. Hudson has litigated several of the firm’s most high-profile complex cases. She specializes in helping clients navigate incident response including crafting big picture media and litigation strategies. Ms. Hudson also has an expertise in post-incident e-discovery and evidence preservation.

Some of Ms. Hudson’s most recent non-confidential matters include:

  • Manspeaker v. Intel, Meyers v. Intel, Rodriguez v. Intel: multi-jurisdictional transgenerational tort disputes.
  • Hollingsworth v. Perry: the federal constitutional challenge to California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8.
  • You v. Japan: defended vehicle manufacturers against alien tort and RICO claims brought on behalf of a purported class of Korean citizens.
  • Tellez v. Dole Food Co.: securing dismissal with prejudice of U.S.-filed toxic tort claims alleging that DBCP caused reproductive harm.
  • Representation of oil companies in connection with civil litigation, environmental enforcement actions, and community complaints.
  • Representation of a major television studio in litigation involving an artist’s “first opportunity” in spin-offs, resulting in settlement of all claims.

    • Community and Firm Involvement. Ms. Hudson served on the firm’s associates committee, and currently services on the firm’s community affairs and diversity committees. Additionally, Ms. Hudson helped launch and helps run the firm’s LGBT Women’s initiative. In 2017, Ms. Hudson was named one of the 40 Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association. Ms. Hudson also has an active pro bono practice. She is a certified trainer for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and traveled to Kenya and Tanzania with Lawyers Without Borders to facilitate the training of Kenyan and Tanzanian advocates and judges on how to successfully bring to trial claims under those countries wildlife conservation laws.

    Education and Background. Ms. Hudson earned her law degree from Columbia University, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, a finalist in the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Competition, and president of OutLaws, Columbia’s LGBT law student organization. Ms. Hudson received her Bachelor’s degree with distinction in Political Science from Yale University in 2003.