Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher's labor and employment group is nationally recognized as top-tier in litigation. Peers often applaud the firm for its work in the space. "Gibson Dunn [is] remarkably prominent. The work that they do at the highest level is sophisticated," notes a competitor. "[They] maintain superb work at a very high level." Another says, "Gibson took the mantle and [ran] with it. [They] carved out a niche at the top of the market." Competitors also comment on the firm's capability in handling high-profile, bet-the-company cases. One competitor says the firm is one of the "defense firms that are absolutely safe bets for big clients and big cases" and another suggests that it is "where you are going to go when the chips are down." The firm's labor and employment group spans two offices in California and an office in the District of Columba, among others.

Several of the firm's prominent lawyers practice out of the California offices. Among them is Theodore Boutrous is regarded as a "great lawyer" and has recently been involved in several high-profile cases in labor and employment. Boutrous, along with Theane Evangelis and District of Columbia partner Joshua Lipshutz, led Uber to a major victory at the Ninth Circuit when the three-judge panel reversed the orders of the district court and decertified a class of current and former drivers alleging they were misclassified as independent contractors. The decision set an important precedent for other similarly situated companies facing the wave of independent contractor challenges. Residing in the Orange County office, Michele Maryott is co-lead counsel for client Postmates in another misclassification case involving the company's courier partners seeking recovery of allegedly unpaid wages and business expenses. The team successfully argued that the originally filed claims should be compelled to arbitration; a second plaintiff's claims were also compelled to arbitration as well. The third plaintiff did not agree to arbitrate claims and is currently in litigation. Maryott and Catherine Conway represent Morrison & Forester in a putative class action alleging gender and pregnancy discrimination. The court granted the team's motion for judgment on the pleadings regarding the claims asserted by two of the plaintiffs in the second amended complaint. Labor and employment partner Jessica Brown maintains the firm's presence in Colorado. "Jessica Brown has a good reputation," affirms a competitor within the market.

The firm's District of Columbia office also hosts nationally recognized lawyers active in handling labor and employment cases. Jason Schwartz is a leading lawyer in the labor and employment space and currently co-chairs the labor and employment practice at the firm. "Jason Schwartz continues to do great work," notes a DC competitor. In September 2018, Schwartz obtained a major victory for client Enterprise Holdings and its subsidiary in an overtime class and collective action filed under the FLSA and Massachusetts Wage Act. Schwartz argued the winning motion to dismiss, relying on the prior precedent-setting victory for the client. He is currently the lead partner defending George Washington University in two separate matters. One matter is alleges gender pay discrimination brought by the EEOC on behalf of an Athletics Department employee in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Schwartz filed a motion to dismiss, or alternatively, stay the action and order the EEOC to engage in conciliation. The motion remains pending.

Schwartz and fellow DC-based partner Greta Williams recently led a high-profile internal investigation into alleged misconduct by the former Chairman and CEO, Steven Wynn, on behalf of the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Wynn Resorts. The investigation was completed in August 2018 after conducting 139 interviews, as well as collecting and reviewing 3.5 million documents. Williams and Schwartz, along with several other partners, have taken the lead in defending Amazon in a first-of-its-kind employment-related case alleging that defendants engaged in age discrimination by placing age filters on employment advertisements on the Facebook social media platform. Williams' work has caught the attention of a competitor who states, "I've heard great things about Greta."

One of the handful of national firms that actually saw its origins in California, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, noted for “having top litigation talent evenly distributed throughout all of its major offices,” houses some of its most preeminent brand-name litigators in the Golden State. Perhaps the most active and visible of these, as well as “the nicest” (according to several peers), Los Angeles-based Ted Boutrous is revered by all who are aware of him as “an appellate superstar” as well as a commercial “crisis”-oriented litigator. “He is perfect in both roles,” notes one peer. “He is very even-tempered. You can’t help but defer to him with respect.”

Boutrous has been at the forefront of several major firm appointments over the past year, and has logged several significant victories throughout. Boutrous is part of a team leading the defense of Chevron Corporation in multiple lawsuits brought by state and local governments around the country seeking abatement and damages for climate change-related harms. The suits were brought by 12 state and local governments and target a group of major fossil fuel producers, including Chevron, alleging public nuisance and other torts arising out of the production, sale, and promotion of fossil fuels. In June 2018, the firm secured a groundbreaking motion to dismiss on behalf of the client litigation brought by the governments of San Francisco and Oakland in the Northern District of California. Boutrous also leads a team that has been retained to represent the McClatchy Company in a defamation lawsuit brought in April 2019 by a California Congressman seeking $150 million in damages against the client, a reporter, and a political consultant. The lawsuit stems from the a newspaper’s publication of an article detailing a 2016 lawsuit filed against a winery partly owned by the Congressman, in which a former employee alleged sexual harassment and other claims in connection with a charity cruise. The Congressman alleges defamation in connection with the publication of the article and a conspiracy between McClatchy and the political consultant defendant to defame him. Boutrous was also part of a team that scored a stunning August 2019 reversal of a commercial and antitrust case for Swisher concerning a dispute with a former business venture partner-turned-competitor in the space of the client’s “Cigarillos” brand. With potential treble damages, the case was valued at $44 million. Working with Boutrous on this matter was Daniel Swanson, a Los Angeles partner who has long been acknowledged for his profile primarily in the antitrust arena.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher enjoys a nationwide status as one of litigation’s most dominant entities. While its origins lie in California, the firm has grown in size and stature to transcend any notion of greater importance in any particular jurisdiction, boasting a star-studded roster that encompasses virtually all of its offices. Peers offer accolades aplenty. “From a litigation perspective, Gibson Dunn continues to rule the roost,” declares one competitor. “They just seem to attract the top-class work and seem to retain the most formidable talent to handle it.” Another assesses, “When I do a mental review of what competing firms are up to, I have to give the crown to Gibson Dunn. The trial victories, the appellate victories, cases running the gamut from resolving cutting-edge commercial issues to setting important legal precedent and even creating new law – they just seem to have it all covered.”
   The firm’s bench is flush with star talent all across the board, the past year has seen a particular spotlight on Los Angeles’ Ted Boutrous, a frequent first-call at the trial and appellate levels. Boutrous has been at the forefront of several major firm appointments over the past year, and has logged several significant victories throughout. Boutrous is part of a team leading the defense of Chevron Corporation in multiple lawsuits brought by state and local governments around the country seeking abatement and damages for climate change-related harms. The suits were brought by 12 state and local governments and target a group of major fossil fuel producers, including Chevron, alleging public nuisance and other torts arising out of the production, sale, and promotion of fossil fuels. In June 2018, the firm secured a groundbreaking motion to dismiss on behalf of the client litigation brought by the governments of San Francisco and Oakland in the Northern District of California. Boutrous also leads a team that has been retained to represent the McClatchy Company in a defamation lawsuit brought in April 2019 by a California Congressman seeking $150 million in damages, against the client, a reporter, and a political consultant. The lawsuit stems from a newspaper’s publication of an article detailing a 2016 lawsuit filed against a winery partly owned by the Congressman, in which a former employee alleged sexual harassment and other claims in connection with a charity cruise. The Congressman alleges defamation in connection with the publication of the article and a conspiracy between McClatchy and the political consultant defendant to defame him. Boutrous was also part of a team that scored a stunning August 2019 reversal of a commercial and antitrust case for Swisher concerning a dispute with a former business venture partner-turned-competitor in the space of the client’s “Cigarillos” brand. With potential treble damages, the case was valued at $44 million. Working with Boutrous on this matter was Daniel Swanson, a Los Angeles partner who has long been acknowledged for his profile primarily in the antitrust arena.
   Ted Olson, the appellate “icon” based in the firm’s DC office, logged another landmark win at the Supreme Court in May 2018 when the court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, opening the door for legal sports betting on a state-by-state basis. As a result of the decision, sports betting is now legal in seven states. Olson and Boutrous acted in concert to secure a temporary restraining order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that ordered the White House to restore CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press pass given to reporters who regularly cover the White House because the White House infringed CNN and Acosta’s First Amendment liberty interests without providing due process as required by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This pass was revoked by Donald Trump in November 2018 after the White House resident refused to answer Acosta’s questions that displeased him. Yet another firm practitioner who is no stranger to the Supreme Court, Drew Tulumello triumphed at the nation’s highest court for BNSF Railway in a case concerning allegations by two former BNSF employees that they sustained injuries while working for the railway. Rather than pursue relief in the states where they were injured, the employees filed suits in Montana state court, a forum known for its liberal construction of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act. In May 2017, the US Supreme Court reversed the Montana Supreme Court’s plaintiff ruling by a vote of 8-1.

     A team composed of New York’s Orin Snyder and Brian Lutz, who works from the New York and San Francisco office, represents Facebook and its directors and officers in all civil litigation, which includes securities class action cases, shareholder derivative cases, and consumer class action cases, arising out of reports of the alleged misuse of Facebook user data by Cambridge Analytica and related parties. A swiftly risen star, Lutz is cheered by a client as “excellent, a very good tactical and strategic thinker, very gifted on his feet.” Snyder has long been acknowledged as a “trial lawyer you don’t want to get on the wrong side of.” Also in the New York office, Avi Weitzman is heralded by a peer as “very sharp, talented and effective. He was a US attorney at the Southern District of New York, he was involved in the [Raj] Rajaratnam case. I’ve seen him take apart a witness or two.”
     The firm’s intellectual property capacity is seeing a steady ascent in profile. Los Angeles’ Wayne Barsky secured a unanimous jury verdict in favor of Merck-Serono and Pfizer in a patent infringement suit concerning multiple sclerosis medicine. In February 2018, a jury rejected the plaintiff’s staggering claim of $5.4 billion in damages.