About Manatt
Manatt is a multidisciplinary, integrated national professional services firm known for quality and an extraordinary commitment to clients. We are keenly focused on specific industry sectors, providing legal and consulting capabilities at the very highest levels to achieve our clients’ business objectives.
Our groundbreaking approach—bringing together legal services, advocacy and business strategy—differentiates us from our competitors and positions us to provide a unique and compelling value proposition. We strive to be essential to our clients.
From our roots in banking, entertainment and government, we work with clients from industries as diverse as health care, financial services, media, technology, retail and consumer products, real estate, and energy. Our practice mix and deep understanding of the industries that drive the U.S. and global economies benefit clients as we resolve complex and potentially enterprise-threatening disputes.
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Manatt Launches AI Consulting and Testing Service Offering
Manatt announced the launch of its new AI Consulting and Testing (AICT) service offering, a multidisciplinary initiative that enhances Manatt’s existing legal and consulting experience with new testing capabilities to help organizations safely and responsibly build, deploy and oversee AI systems.
This new service offering includes AI testing, regulatory‑aligned governance, model validation and outcome-based testing, including bias testing, procurement support and ongoing monitoring—giving clients a defensible, end‑to‑end approach to responsible AI. For example, in the health care space, the new testing capabilities will support Manatt Health’s robust legal and consulting practice supporting use of AI in health, digital health and wellness.
Manatt and Bird Marella Secure Historic Habeas Corpus Victory Blocking Extradition
Manatt Partner Naeun Rim along with Bird Marella partners Ekwan Rhow and Christopher Jumin Lee secured a significant pro bono victory after a federal court granted pro bono client Christopher Ahn’s petition for writ of habeas corpus and barred his extradition—the first time in U.S. history that a court has denied extradition on humanitarian grounds.
The matter stems from allegations related to a February 2019 incident at North Korea’s embassy in Madrid, Spain. The evidence was clear that Ahn entered the embassy with a human rights organization known as Free Joseon in an effort to help a group of North Koreans defect. When the would-be North Korean defectors changed their minds out of fear of retribution from the North Korean government, they claimed that the group had attempted to kidnap and rob them. Relying on the word of North Korean officials, Spanish authorities charged Ahn with attempted kidnapping, robbery, and other crimes and sought his extradition from the United States. After a magistrate judge reluctantly certified the extradition request, Ahn challenged that determination by filing a petition for writ of habeas corpus.
In its ruling, the court found that the government failed to establish probable cause or dual criminality and further held that extradition would violate Ahn’s substantive due process rights. The court also concluded that extradition was barred under the state-created danger doctrine and the humanitarian exception to extradition. As a result, the court enjoined Ahn’s extradition, while temporarily staying execution of the order to allow the government an opportunity to appeal.
The decision represents a critical win in a closely watched international extradition matter and underscores Manatt’s deep strength in high-stakes trial, white collar and international matters.
Read the opinion here.
Manatt Files Amicus Brief Urging Court to Block HHS Policy Restricting Immigrants’ Access to Health Programs
Manatt filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of leading public health organizations and scholars in State of New York et al. v. U.S. Department of Justice et al., urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island to vacate and enjoin a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policy that restricts immigrants’ access to essential health programs.
The amicus brief was submitted on behalf of the American Public Health Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership and the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, along with 66 deans, professors and scholars of public health, law and health policy. The amici argue that HHS’s July 2025 notice unlawfully reinterprets the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 by newly classifying long-standing, community-based health programs as “federal public benefits.”
As detailed in the brief, the HHS policy would bar millions of immigrants—including individuals with Temporary Protected Status, asylum applicants, DACA recipients and certain visa holders—from accessing programs Congress designed to serve entire communities regardless of immigration status. Affected programs include the Health Center Program, Head Start, the Title X family planning program and federally funded behavioral health initiatives.
The amici explain that HHS failed to consider extensive public health evidence showing that restricting access to these programs will harm individual and community health, deter eligible immigrants and U.S. citizens from seeking care, increase uncompensated care costs and weaken the broader economy. The brief argues that these failures render the policy arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
The Manatt team included Partners Eric Gold and Ross Margulies as well as Associates Alexander Somodevilla and Shannon Gonick.
Read the full amicus brief here.
