Yvette (“Yve”) Golan is a seasoned litigator with extensive experience in class actions and other complex commercial matters. She brings the perspective of both sides (plaintiff and defense), the court (as a former federal appellate clerk), and the client (as former general counsel).
Yve received her Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School in 2002, where she graduated magna cum laude and received the Order of the Coif. She served as Editor of the Cornell Law Review and as a research assistant to Professor Robert S. Summers, editing the fifth edition of the seminal White & Summers treatise on the Uniform Commercial Code. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999.
After law school, Yve clerked on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for former Chief Judge J. Clifford Wallace, in San Diego, CA. She then joined Kirkland & Ellis LLP at its main litigation office in Chicago, IL, where she focused on class action defense, complex business litigation, automotive product liability, bankruptcy restructuring, and toxic torts. In addition to counseling clients in risk mitigation efforts, Yve worked in all aspects of litigation, including arguing dispositive and other key motions in federal trial courts with a 100% win rate. She then served as a business director and general counsel at World Innova Inc., where she managed litigation, secured $500 million in financing, and obtained high-value contracts to manufacture and distribute high-volume consumer products to big-box retailers, including Walmart and Walgreens.
Yve currently leads The Golan Firm PLLC, where she has established a precedent-setting complex litigation, appellate, and class action practice through long-term collaboration with co-counsel firms across the U.S. and the help of over 60 clerks that she has hired, trained, and managed as employees of her firm. TGF has earned a national reputation in data privacy, consumer protection, deceptive advertising, TCPA, toxic chemical exposure, and other commercial matters. While TGF originally began as a plaintiff-side class action boutique, Yve Golan has now returned to her roots as a defense-side litigator.
Outside her legal practice, Yve is active in her community, particularly in mentoring young professionals in the Washington D.C. area and serves as the Co-Chair of the Women’s Bar Association Subcommittee of In-House Counsel. Ms. Golan has been interviewed in a wide variety of media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Fox News, and the Associated Press. She is also a classical saxophonist.
Yve Golan is licensed to practice law in the state courts of New York, Illinois, Texas, in the District of Columbia, and in numerous federal and appellate courts.
Admissions
Illinois
Texas
New York
District of Columbia
Federal appellate courts:
First Circuit Court of Appeals
Second Circuit Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
Federal district courts:
District of Columbia
Northern District of Illinois
Eastern District of New York
Southern District of New York
Southern District of Texas
Western District of Texas
Education
Cornell Law School, J.D., 2002, magna cum laude. Concentration in Trial Advocacy. Order of the Coif. Editor of Cornell Law Review.
University of Texas at Austin, B.A., 1999, summa cum laude. Highest Honors, Departmental Honors, College Scholar, and Phi Beta Kappa (national honor society).