Mary L. Davis; Lawyer Won Release for Convicted Killer

Mary Laura “Chee” Davis, the attorney who won clemency for a convicted murderer using the then-novel battered woman defense, has died. She was 59.

Davis, a partner in the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, died June 12 in Los Angeles of complications from lung cancer.

Volunteering to take the case without fee, Davis represented Brenda Denise Aris, who was convicted of killing her sleeping husband. Aris committed the crime because she was driven to it by years of physical and emotional abuse, Davis argued, winning Aris an early release from prison. The clemency granted by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1994 was the first issued in California in 18 years.

In legal circles, Davis was better known as an expert in products liability and medical malpractice defense, particularly for the pharmaceutical industry. Her clients included major pharmaceutical companies, health care organizations and hospitals.

Davis, born in Durham, N.C., was the fourth child in as many generations to be named “Mary Laura,” but from childhood she was known generally as “Chee,” a nickname her father gave her when she was a toddler.

Brought up in the tradition of Southern belles, Davis went to a finishing school, St. Mary’s Junior College in Raleigh, N.C. Not yet interested in her grandfather’s prediction that she would become a lawyer, she went to New York City.

For 13 years, Davis danced and acted on Broadway and in summer stock productions. Between jobs in theater, she worked as a secretary and paralegal to the managing partner of the patent law firm Fish & Neave.

By 1971, Davis was ready to make law her permanent career choice and earned her bachelor’s degree at Hunter College in New York. She went on to earn her law degree from Emory University in Atlanta in 1977.

Shortly afterward, Davis moved to Los Angeles to join Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She became a partner in 1985.

Davis is survived by her husband, film producer Jack Yopp, and her mother, Mary Laura Davis.

The family has asked that memorial contributions be sent to the John Wayne Cancer Institute, 2200 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404.