Shawn Katherine Chapman Holley is an American defense attorney.

Early life and education

Holley was raised in Los Angeles. Her mother was a

legal secretary A legal secretary is a particular category of worker within the legal profession. Background In the practice of law in the United States, a legal secretary is a person who works in the legal profession, typically assisting lawyers. Legal secretari ...

who earned an

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

through night classes and became the manager of a prestigious law firm. Though Holley spent many hours at her mother's law firm, she was uninterested in the law until she met "a cool lawyer who did work that excited her". She enrolled in law school and one summer took a law clerk position at the public defenders office which included interviewing people who had been detained. Holley graduated from

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Ca ...

with a B.A. in English in 1984, and from

Southwestern University School of Law Southwestern Law School is a private law school in Los Angeles, California. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and enrolls nearly 1,000 students. Its campus includes the Bullocks Wilshire building, an Art Deco National Register o ...

with a J.D. in 1988.

Career

Holley began her career in the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office where she worked for five years before being hired by

Johnnie Cochran Johnnie Lee Cochran Jr.Adam Bernstei ''The Washington Post'', March 30, 2005; retrieved April 17, 2006. ( ; October 2, 1937 – March 29, 2005) was an American attorney from California who was involved in numerous civil rights and Police b ...

. She eventually became the

Managing Partner A partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position, traditionally indicating co-ownership of a partnership in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits as " equity partners" ...

of The Cochran Firm, and was a member of O. J. Simpson's legal defense team, dubbed the " Dream Team". Holley is a partner at the firm ''Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP'', practicing in various areas of litigation. Having joined the firm in 2006, it was renamed to include her name in 2021. She has represented a number of celebrity clients, including

Kim Kardashian Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after the celebrity sex tape ...

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, Trevor Bauer, and

Danny Masterson Daniel Peter Masterson (born March 13, 1976) Most sources give birth date March 13, 1976. FilmReference.com gives March 3, 1976. is an American actor. He portrayed Steven Hyde in ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006), Milo Foster in ''Men at Work' ...

. Holley was chief legal correspondent for the E! Network, as well as an on-air legal analyst for KABC Eyewitness News in Los Angeles. She has appeared on the ''Today Show, Good Morning America, PrimeTime Live'', Court TV, Fox News and CNN. Additionally Holley is a visiting faculty lecturer at Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School at

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.

in New York City. In 2018, Holley was added to the Board of Trustees of Southwestern Law School.

Popular culture

In the 2016 FX Miniseries '' The People v. O. J. Simpson'', Holley was portrayed by Angel Parker. The character "Jax" in the 2022 TV series ''

Reasonable Doubt Beyond (a) reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the standard of balance of probabilities (US English: preponderance of ...

'' is loosely based on the experiences of Shawn Holley, who is also a producer for the show.

Personal life

Her husband is musician Dorian Holley. They have three children Nayanna, Sasha and Olivia.

References

External links

Shawn Holley partner profile
at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP
Interview with Shawn Chapman Holley
for Insider Exclusive (2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Holley, Shawn Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) American lawyers