Current Role
  • Partner, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP
Experience

Prior to joining Hagens Berman, Breanna was an associate at another law firm in Seattle, where she focused on Internet and technology law.  Breanna took one of the first electronic impersonation cases in Washington state to trial.  At trial, she secured an $8.9 million dollar verdict for her clients — the largest verdict ever awarded to a non-celebrity in an electronic impersonation/invasion of privacy case.

Pro Bono
  • As part of her pro bono practice, Ms. Van Engelen represented the victim of cyberstalking and revenge porn in the trial of Allen v. Zonis, Case No. 15-2-15656-0 (Wash. Super. Ct.) before Judge Helson, in King County, Washington. She and her team brought one of the first cases the nation that successfully alleged causes of action stemming from the defendant’s distribution of the victim’s intimate images. After Ms. Van Engelen’s closing argument at trial, the jury awarded the victim $8.9 million for the damages they incurred due to the defendant’s misconduct. The verdict was featured on ABC News Nightline, and the case was profiled in depth by Wired Magazine, which interviewed Ms. Van Engelen in its coverage of the case. The damage award of $8.9 million was one of the largest plaintiff verdicts for this kind of misconduct.
Recognition
  • Public Service & Leadership Award, 2018-2019
Notable Cases
  • Ms. Van Engelen played a key role in helping consumers recover more than $180 million from chicken conglomerates in In re: Broilers Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 1:16-cv-08637 (N.D. Ill.), pending before Judge Durkin. She drafted significant portions of consumers’ motion for class certification, which Judge Durkin granted on May 27, 2022. Ms. Van Engelen worked fulltime helping the firm’s Broilers team develop the facts during discovery and took the lead in depositions against several critical defendant witnesses, including first-chairing the deposition of a former senior officer of a publicly traded company.
  • Ms. Van Engelen was one of the first to investigate the pork industry and is a key litigator with the firm in In re: Pork Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 18-cv-1776 (D. Minn.), pending before Judge Tunheim. She and the Hagens Berman litigation team represent consumer purchasers and brought the first complaint filed in what is now a large MDL. In this matter, Breanna has first-chaired several depositions of defendants’ key executives, including senior officers at large, publicly traded companies. 
  • She is also a critical early team member in the In re Cattle and Beef Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 20-cv-1319, in which she helped draft the complaint and fight motions to dismiss, which were denied on Sept. 14, 2021.               
  • Additionally, Ms. Van Engelen is one of few young attorneys experienced in giving closing arguments in newsworthy cases.
     
Media interviews and commentary
Presentations
  • “Taking the Distribution of Intimate Images to Trial," Presentation at 9th Annual Domestic Violence Symposium, Seattle, WA, Sept. 2017
Personal Insight

Breanna grew up in Idaho, where she learned to ski in the winter and race horses on mountain trails in the summer.  Before becoming an attorney, Breanna taught at a pre-school in eastern Washington. When she’s not working, you can find Breanna on her parents’ ranch in Texas, taking care of the land and snuggling animals.