Annie O’Toole is counsel at Hecker Fink LLP.
Annie is an innovative trial lawyer with significant experience in criminal, civil and regulatory matters, who rejoined the firm after serving in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Central District of California from 2021 to 2025. As a Deputy Federal Public Defender, Annie represented over 100 clients in federal court from initial appearance through sentencing. Her cases involved a broad range of serious charges, including fraud, corruption, art law, drug offenses, and homicide.
During her tenure, Annie consistently secured significant victories, winning numerous motions to dismiss and motions to suppress that led to outright case dismissals, obtaining noncustodial sentences in a variety of cases, and successfully negotiating for pre-trial diversion and the downgrading of felony charges to misdemeanors. Notably, Annie achieved an acquittal at trial for a client charged with firearms offenses after exposing racial profiling by the Los Angeles Police Department. She also obtained a minimal sentence following trial in a custom fraud case by marshalling evidence that an imported mosaic was not an authentic ancient Roman mosaic.
Earlier in her career, Annie was an associate at the firm, where she defended high-profile clients in defamation cases, individuals charged or being investigated in the Southern District of New York, investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and other civil matters. Annie began her legal career as an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. She clerked for the Honorable Paul A. Crotty of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and while in law school, served as an Extern for the Honorable Joel A. Pisano of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Prior to law school, Annie served as the Finance Director and Assistant Treasurer for the House and Senate campaigns of Congressman Rush Holt in New Jersey.
Annie earned her J.D. cum laude from Cornell Law School, where she was recognized with multiple honors, including the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for her work in both the Capital Punishment Clinic and in Law & Higher Education, as well as the Women’s Resource Center International Women’s Day Award. During her time at Cornell, Annie served as Managing Editor of the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, a Teaching Assistant for a course on the death penalty in America, and the Graduate/Professional Student Trustee on the Cornell University Board of Trustees. She now serves on the Cornell Law School Advisory Council. Annie received her B.A. from Vanderbilt University in Political Science and History of Art.