Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

A firm that saw its genesis in Los Angeles, CA in 1890, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher today enjoys a nationwide status as one of litigation’s most dominant entities. Peers offer accolades for lawyers from virtually all of the firm’s domestic offices, and one sums up the firm’s overall litigation horsepower with, “Many firms are the leaders in one region, but don’t have reach anywhere else. Others set up offices all over the place and yet have no key players in any of them. Gibson Dunn is that rare bird that has managed to cover the US with a substantial network of offices, and has cultivated an awesome team of litigators in just about every one of them.” Another competitor concedes, “We monitor Gibson Dunn’s hiring strategy very closely because it’s a winner. It’s obvious that they take litigation very seriously – either that or they’re just damn lucky! – because they have got one of the more enviable and consistent rosters of talent.” Clients are not short on acclaim either; one cheers, “Overall, they are one of the best firms I have ever dealt with in terms of professionalism, responsiveness, client interaction and overall effectiveness including management of client expectations and budgets.” Supporting the firm’s “winner” recruiting streak, Gibson Dunn has bolstered its ranks with the 2014 hire of appellate and constitutional law ace Caitlin Halligan, formerly a New York Solicitor General and most recently General Counsel to the New York County District Attorney office, and more recently with the July 2016 hire of Patrick Stokes, a former federal prosecutor with the DoJ who has joined the firm’s DC office. Even as the firm saw the departure of noted DC star Thomas Hungar, who was plucked for the position of general counsel for the US House of Representatives, peers observe, “It won’t make a dent in the firm’s strength – they have more than enough bench depth to absorb the loss of even a substantial star like Hungar, and it also speaks to the pedigree of the lawyers that firm turns out.”
     In the New York office, standout trial lawyer Randy Mastro remains a figurehead regarding the firm’s ongoing representation of Chevron in its successful RICO and fraud suit against the purveyors of a $9.2 billion Ecuadorian judgment against the company for alleged contamination of the Amazon Basin.  Mastro was also retained by the office of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to conduct an internal investigation related to allegations concerning unlawful activities transpiring under Christie’s watch. More recently, Mastro led a team that filed suit on behalf of an AIG affiliate, Lavastone, against AIG’s exclusive originator of life settlement policies, Coventry, and the family members who owned Coventry and its affiliates. Following a fast-paced trial, the two parties entered into a confidential settlement on very favorable terms to Mastro’s client. Further support for Mastro comes from peers within the white-collar and securities enforcement community, several of whom also note, “Gibson Dunn is now huge in this area. Lee Dunst, Mark Schonfeld, Reed Brodsky, Alexander Southwell, Mark Kirsch, Larry Zweifach – all of these people have been responsible for a lot of big investigations.”
     Another area in which Gibson Dunn is an undisputed leader is the appellate practice, primarily concentrated in its DC office. Nearly as impressive as the firm’s stunning track record is the magnitude of the cases and their game-changing impact on the country’s economic, sociological and political fabric. “Gibson Dunn has clocked some towering wins in the appellate capacity. Their appellate bench is pretty much an all-star cast, and the cases in question have made national headlines,” confirms a peer. “These are not just cases where it’s just about the money, either. These are cases where it’s literally make-or-break concerning business reputations and relationships.” One such member of this “all-star cast” who attends to this referred-to high-profile work is Theodore Boutrous, who operates from the Los Angeles office and has been has as of late cemented a well-earned status as a “darling of the appellate bar.” While noted as a “force to be reckoned with,” Boutrous is also commended for his “unusually pleasant demeanor, which especially seems to shine when stakes are high and everyone else is on edge. It lends a sense of assuredness to what would otherwise be very stressful situations.” Another appellate “titan,” Washington, DC-based Ted Olson triumphed when, in April 2016, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Bank Markazi v. Peterson. Olson briefed and argued the case on behalf of the plaintiffs, a group of over 1,300 victims of terrorist attacks that were sponsored by the government of Iran who had been unable to collect on billions of dollars in judgments that were awarded to them against Iran for those attacks. DC’s Mark Perry has also seen a banner streak of appeals court triumphs, including a precedent-setting unanimous decision in June 2014 in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International that knocked out patent claims against firm client CLS. The court found that Alice Corp.'s method for using a computer system to mitigate risk was too abstract for patent protection, clarifying important issues in the continuing debate over software patents. The Alice decision has been pivotal within the intellectual property world, being one of the most closely watched and most frequently discussed cases and one of the most intensely debated of decisions regarding patent law. “Mark Perry has just been killing it lately,” confirms a DC peer. “The Alice decision was just an absolute milestone. He can basically call it a career at this point; no matter what he does in the wake of that decision, he can basically write his own ticket from now on.”
     In the intellectual property capacity, New York litigators Josh Krevitt and Daniel Thomasch scored in October 2015 for T-Mobile USA, securing a complete defense jury verdict after a three-week trial in the District of Nebraska in a $100 million patent infringement case brought by an Omaha-based patent licensing entity.