Ashley B. Vinson is a member of the firm’s litigation practice. She focuses on commercial litigation in the areas of insurance and securities, primarily in matters involving class actions, shareholder derivative actions and bad faith litigation.

Practice & Background

Prior to rejoining Akin Gump, Ms. Vinson most recently acted as in-house counsel for an insurance company where she managed bad faith and corporate litigation for various lines of business, as well as advised claims personnel regarding bad faith exposure and corporate litigation matters.

In 2003, Ms. Vinson received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she won the honor for First-Year Ames Moot Court Competition, Best Brief, and received her B.A summa cum laude in economics from Louisiana State University in 1999.
Representative Matters

Ms. Vinson’s recent engagements include:

representing an insurance company in a mass-plaintiff tort suit alleging that the company is liable for damages employees allegedly suffered as a result of investment advice they received from broker-dealer representatives licensed by a former seminar provider for the company
representing an insurance company in a class action lawsuit and related litigation alleging the company’s representatives improperly recommended that public employees transfer out of a state-run pension program and into the insurance company’s annuity within the state’s defined contribution plan
defending life insurance companies in class action lawsuits alleging unsuitable sales of variable annuity products in qualified retirement plans in violation of state and federal securities laws
representing an insurance company in a class action lawsuit involving securities fraud claims based on the failure to disclose alleged conflicts of interest by registered representatives in the sale of securities and hybrid securities/insurance products
representing an insurance company in class action lawsuits alleging improper first-party claims payment practices in connection with payment of overhead and profit under homeowners’ policies
representing insurance companies in class action and individual lawsuits regarding products issued to fund qualified defined benefit plans created pursuant to Sections 412(i) and 419 of the IRC
representing insurance companies in bad faith litigation
representing public and private companies, officers and directors in securities class actions, shareholder derivative actions, SEC investigations, arbitrations and other complex litigation cases
representing clients on a pro bono basis in cases involving federal drug conspiracy charges, challenges to legal immigration status, secondary school expulsions, landlord-tenant disputes and other family law matters
conducting three criminal jury trials and arguing multiple motions in externship with Marin County District Attorney’s Office.