About Denise L.
Denise L. Drake built an uncommon path to the courtroom. She earned a B.A. in Economics and Government from Harvard in 2007 and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2013. Those academic credentials sit alongside early experience on Wall Street and a string of federal clerkships.
After college, Drake spent a year as an analyst in Emerging Markets Sales & Trading at Goldman Sachs. She moved from finance to law and began clerking immediately after law school. In 2013 she served as a law clerk to a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The following year she clerked at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Those roles exposed her to appellate and trial-level decision-making at close range.
Before and during law school she gained experience at prominent firms. She was a summer associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson in 2011 and at Keker & Van Nest in 2012. After her clerkships she joined Gibbs & Bruns LLP as an associate. At Gibbs & Bruns she works on litigation matters that reach state and federal courts.
Drake is admitted to practice in California and Texas. She holds memberships in both the State Bar of California and the State Bar of Texas. Her federal admissions include the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, and the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. Those admissions reflect a practice that spans multiple trial and appellate forums.
Her background combines transactional market experience and courtroom practice. The Goldman Sachs year gave her familiarity with financial markets and client-facing work. The clerkships deepened her grasp of appellate procedure and the mechanics of trial-court rulings. At Gibbs & Bruns she applies those perspectives to litigation tasks, briefing, and courtroom preparation.
Colleagues describe Drake as methodical in her legal analysis and precise in briefing. She has handled matters that require both appellate briefing and district-court litigation work. As of 2026 she remains an associate at Gibbs & Bruns LLP, where her practice concentrates on complex litigation and appellate matters.
