Sherry Haus is a Shareholder in the Firm’s Sacramento office and a member of the Litigation practice group. Ms. Haus is a seasoned litigator with deep experience in white collar criminal defense, securities litigation and counseling, and internal investigations. A former federal prosecutor and a former special assistant district attorney, she has tried many cases to verdict in federal and state courts.

Ms. Haus has extensive experience counseling, handling government investigations and prosecutions, and litigating on behalf of public companies, as well as officers and directors, in both civil and criminal matters, including parallel civil and criminal federal investigations. She has represented numerous Fortune 500 companies and financial institutions in investigations by DOJ, the SEC, and other government agencies. Ms. Haus also provides guidance on compliance policies and issues such as anti-money laundering requirements and conducts internal investigations for companies and their audit committees.

Practicing in her hometown of Sacramento, while having also practiced in San Francisco and Palo Alto, Ms. Haus takes a particular interest in areas of import to Northern California and the Central Valley, including matters affecting the food, drug and wine industries; research universities; government relations; and the technology and clean energy sectors.

Ms. Haus previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the Eastern District of California, where she investigated, prosecuted, and tried cases for the white collar criminal division of one of the largest and busiest federal districts in the country. She focused on economic crimes, including tax fraud, financial fraud, public corruption, procurement fraud, healthcare fraud, and cases involving child exploitation.  She prosecuted a massive unemployment and disability fraud case, involving hundreds of claimants, which Chief United States District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. called “one of the longest-running, most sophisticated fraud schemes that [the court has] ever seen.”  Ms. Haus also successfully opposed an appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by a former San Joaquin County supervisor and his legal aide in that county’s largest public corruption scandal.

Prior to her work as a federal prosecutor, Sherry specialized in white collar criminal defense and securities litigation defense and counseling at a major international law firm.

Ms. Haus is staunchly committed to pro bono legal work in a variety of arenas. She has performed significant pro bono work in a variety of areas, including immigration, civil rights, constitutional law, diplomatic immunity, and international human trafficking, as well as domestic violence matters. She was a key member of a team that provided legal advice regarding amendments to a country’s peace agreement. She also served on a team that drafted legislation to address sextortion as part of a national effort to craft state laws to address what the FBI has identified as “by far the most significant growing threat to children” on the Internet.

Awards and Honors

• Sacramento Magazine, Top Lawyer, Criminal Defense: White Collar, 2019 and 2024; Securities Litigation, 2022
• Super Lawyers, New England Super Lawyers Rising Star, 2009-2011
• Harvard Kennedy Fellowship (full-tuition merit-based scholarship)
• UCLA Chancellor’s Service Award

Professional Involvement

• Sacramento County Bar Association, Criminal Law Section
• California Lawyers Association, Criminal Law Section
• Federal Bar Association, Sacramento Chapter