Jeannie S. Rhee⏐Managing Partner

Jeannie Rhee is the Managing Partner of Dunn Isaacson Rhee and one of the nation’s foremost crisis managers and litigation strategists. Deeply experienced and battle-tested, Jeannie is hailed as a “strategic genius” in Chambers and Partners for her work guiding Fortune 100 clients through their most significant civil, white-collar, and regulatory issues, including highly sensitive internal investigations and government inquiries. Among other recognitions, Jeannie has been named a “Top Lawyer in America” by Forbes, Band 1 in White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations by Chambers and Partners, and ranked Tier 1 by The Legal 500 for her leadership in high-stakes white collar matters.

A first-chair trial attorney and longtime former federal prosecutor, Jeannie has led and won from both sides of the courtroom. Recognized as a trusted counselor who rolls up her sleeves and knows how to drive hard, complicated cases, Jeannie is often the first call for boards, senior executives, and general counsel navigating bet-the-company investigations, high-profile litigation, and reputational crises. As clients told Chambers and Partners, whether Jeannie is “on her feet in court or in a conference room, she is an intellectual force to be reckoned with.”  

Clients facing government investigations and litigation brought by the DOJ, SEC, FTC, FCC, state attorneys general and other government entities continually turn to Jeannie for her deep “understanding of the agencies and internal politics” and ability to move quickly. “I have never seen someone quicker to absorb information and turn it around strategically,” one said.

While Jeannie is highly successful at keeping clients out of the spotlight, she is always prepared to litigate and take matters to court. She serves as co-lead counsel for Google in United States, et al. v. Google LLC, the federal government’s landmark civil antitrust case challenging Google’s digital advertising technology and leads Google's defense in related private suits brought by publishers and competitors in the Southern District of New York. Jeannie has delivered decisive results for clients across a range of high-stakes matters. She represented Amazon in a dual challenge from the DOJ and FTC over consumer protection claims related to its Alexa service; won dismissal with prejudice for Google in Hurley v. Google LLC, a putative antitrust class action by Canadian consumers raising novel questions about the global reach of U.S. antitrust law; successfully resolved a DOJ investigation and litigation for Kaiser Permanente that had spanned more than a decade prior to Jeannie’s engagement; and secured the dismissal of a high-profile “reverse discrimination” lawsuit against Pfizer.

Her practice also reflects a lifelong commitment to high-impact pro bono work that upholds justice and the rule of law. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in partnership with the ACLU, Jeannie secured the release of more than 50 medically vulnerable immigrants from ICE detention in Michigan through a class action vindicating their constitutional right to safe conditions of confinement. Other pro bono victories include a landmark judgment against the extremist group the Proud Boys on behalf of Washington’s historic Metropolitan A.M.E. Church over a racially motivated attack.

Jeannie’s work is informed by her leadership in government where she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel between 2009 and 2011. Earlier, as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia between 2000 and 2006, Jeannie handled more than 30 jury and bench trials. Between 2017 and 2019, Jeannie served as a Senior Deputy in the Mueller Special Counsel Investigation, leading the office’s largest teams investigating foreign cyber and social media interference in the U.S. Presidential Election.

Jeannie is consistently recognized for her significant achievements in the law. She is Chambers and Partners-ranked as a leading lawyer in White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations (Band 1), Commercial Litigation, and Antitrust Litigation Specialists. Jeannie has also been named a “Global Leader in Crisis Management,” a “Managing Partner to Know,” one of the “Leading Litigators in America” and a “Leading Global Cyber Lawyer” by Lawdragon. She has been repeatedly named one of the Top 250 Women in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation; a “South Trailblazer” by The American Lawyer; a finalist for “White Collar Crime Lawyer of the Year” by Euromoney’s Women in Business Law; and to Cybersecurity Docket’s “Incident Response 50” list of the industry’s top data breach response lawyers. 

Jeannie has devoted herself to upholding the principles of the rule of law and transforming the profession through diversity and inclusion. She received the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Award in 2021 and was named “Woman Lawyer of the Year” by the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia in 2020. She has served on the boards of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the Women’s Bar Association, D.C. Circuit Historical Society, and the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center.