Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP is pleased to announce that Los Angeles office managing partner Ann Marie Mortimer and New York office managing partner Lisa J. Sotto have been recognized by Forbes among its inaugural list of America’s Top Women Lawyers. The list of 200 attorneys from across the country “spotlights leaders, rainmakers, trusted counselors and innovators, as well as mentors and changemakers blazing a trail for other women in the field.”
Head of the firm’s commercial litigation practice and founder and managing partner of the Los Angeles office, Mortimer is well-versed in advising high-profile clients on complex commercial litigation, including banking, privacy, mass torts, data breach, and climate litigation. In a recent verdict with major implications for the banking and finance industry, as lead counsel, she and the team secured a complete defense verdict for Nano Banc after a two-month jury trial for claims that the bank aided and abetted a theft and breach of fiduciary duty in connection with a $37 million commercial real-estate loan. By contrast other co-defendants were liable as the jury awarded the plaintiff $83.25 million, including punitive damages. Importantly, the jury found Nano Banc not liable and awarded no damages on any claims asserted against it. She was the lead lawyer defending an internet service provider in a class action lawsuit that has been deemed the largest data breach in history and was featured as lead counsel on one of the Daily Journal’s Top Defense Verdicts in California for her representation of one of the largest American multinational big box retailers in a class action lawsuit involving an alleged data privacy breach and its precedent-setting decision was one of the first dismissals of a California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) claim on the merits. Mortimer’s leadership in complex commercial litigation extends to model leadership within her firm and the community as one of only a handful of female office managing partners in California.
Sotto chairs the firm’s top-ranked global data, cyber and privacy practice and serves as managing partner of the firm’s New York office. A longtime leader in global privacy and cybersecurity law, Sotto has devoted her career to advancing sound data privacy and security practices worldwide. In 2001, she co-founded the Centre for Information Policy Leadership, a global think tank at Hunton that collaborates with industry leaders, policymakers, and regulators to promote responsible and beneficial data use and accountable governance for data-driven innovation. Sotto is a market leader who advises clients in identifying, analyzing, and managing risks associated with cybersecurity and privacy practices, including advising on AI governance and data monetization issues. She has handled more than 6,000 cybersecurity incidents, including for Fortune 500 companies and other household names around the world. She served as chair of the US Department of Homeland Security’s Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee from 2012 to 2025, is a member of the Policy Advisory Group for the University of Virginia’s National Security Data and Policy Institute (NSDPI), and is the lead author of Wolters Kluwer’s Privacy and Cybersecurity Law Deskbook. She testifies regularly before the US Congress and other government bodies has been tapped to lead several industry committees and organizations, and appears regularly on national television and podcasts.
A full list of the 2026 America’s Top Women Lawyers can be found here.
