Carley Palmer

Carley Palmer serves on the WLALA Board of Governors and co-chairs WLALA’s Criminal Justice Committee.  She strongly believes that women belong in rooms where decisions are made, and that includes courtrooms. 

Carley is a partner at Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg LLP in Los Angeles.  A seasoned trial and appellate lawyer, Carley focuses her practice on internal and regulatory investigations, white-collar criminal defense, and complex commercial litigation. Her clients include individuals and corporations who are facing sensitive government inquiries, managing critical moments, and navigating high-stakes business disputes. Carley previously practiced white-collar criminal defense and securities litigation at Dechert LLP in New York City, where she represented individual and corporate clients in civil and criminal litigation, government investigations, and regulatory-enforcement matters.

Carley is a former federal prosecutor. Carley served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, where she investigated and prosecuted federal crimes for over eight years. As Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section, Carley trained and supervised dozens of federal prosecutors, overseeing hundreds of cases and scores of trials. While at the U.S. Department of Justice, Carley also personally led more than ten trials or significant evidentiary hearings in the Central District of California, argued six cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and wrote countless district-court motions and appellate briefs. As a member of the Criminal Appeals Section, Carley consulted on cases at all stages of litigation from throughout the Criminal and National Security Divisions. As a member of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section, Carley also led local, federal, and foreign law-enforcement efforts to investigate and impede transnational crimes.

Carley graduated magna cum laude from Boston College and Order of Barristers from New York University School of Law.  After law school, Carley clerked for the Honorable Jay C. Gandhi (Retired) in the Central District of California. She also taught Legal Writing and Advocacy to first-year law students at USC Gould School of Law. 

Carley is a proud member of both WLALA and the Women’s White Collar Defense Association (WWCDA). She also enjoys mentoring women law students of color through The Appellate Project (TAP).