Quick on her feet and dedicated to providing a high level of service to her clients, Denise Vaughn is a driven litigator focused on white-collar, compliance, and investigative matters involving complex financial instruments, fraud, and false claims. Skilled at developing trial strategies, she can identify and evaluate issues to craft arguments in her clients’ defense.
Denise assists her clients by contemplating effective trial or negotiation tactics from the outset of every case. She regularly prepares and presents clients for testimony in government investigations and manages responses to subpoena requests for documents from the SEC and DOJ. Additionally, Denise is experienced in cross-examining government witnesses in federal court and leading internal investigations for companies and universities by conducting interviews of employees of varying levels.
Denise’s experience includes arguing in front of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit asking the court to adopt the Ruse Exception to the Speedy Trial Act. She also served as part of a team that successfully defended a client in an SEC investigation alleging non-disclosure in collateral mortgage obligation trades. In this role, she assisted in preparing a Wells Notice submission.
Further, she represented pro bono an incarcerated individual in a federal civil rights lawsuit through to trial, as part of her law school’s Federal Civil Rights Clinic. Notably, that case was the first, full and completely virtual jury trial, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the state of Illinois.
Denise’s experience includes arguing in front of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit asking the court to adopt the Ruse Exception to the Speedy Trial Act. She also served as part of a team that successfully defended a client in an SEC investigation alleging non-disclosure in collateral mortgage obligation trades. In this role, she assisted in preparing a Wells Notice submission.
Further, she represented pro bono an incarcerated individual in a federal civil rights lawsuit through to trial, as part of her law school’s Federal Civil Rights Clinic. Notably, that case was the first, full and completely virtual jury trial, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the state of Illinois.
Credentials
Education
- University of Illinois College of Law, J.D., 2021, CALI Award for excellence in Federal Civil Rights, Paul M. Lisnek Award for Excellence and Ethics in Trial Advocacy, Dean’s List, coach to Phi Alpha Delta mock trial team, semi-finalist Midwest Regional Competition for the Illinois Trial Team, competitor in ABA Midwest Regional Negotiation Competitions
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, B.A., Sociology and French, 2018, Division I Cross Country and Track and Field Full Scholarship, Big Ten Conference Distinguished Academic Scholar, Dean’s List
Bar Admissions
- New York
- Illinois
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit