Established 1890
Tel: +1 213 229 7000
Website: www.gibsondunn.com
Practice Areas: • Antitrust • Appellate • Bankruptcy • General Commercial • Insurance • Intellectual Property • International Arbitration • Labor and Employment • Product Liability • Securities • Transnational Litigation • White Collar Crime
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, a leading international law firm, consistently ranks among the world’s top law firms in industry surveys and major publications. The firm is distinctively positioned in today’s global marketplace with more than 1,300 lawyers and 20 offices.
Litigation Practice:
Acclaimed as a litigation powerhouse, Gibson Dunn and the members of the Litigation practice have a long record of outstanding successes. The American Lawyer named Gibson Dunn a Finalist in its 2018 Litigation Department of the Year competition. This award followed our firm’s unprecedented three wins in this biennial competition – as the 2016, 2012 and 2010 Litigation Department of the Year – and 2014 Finalist honors. Benchmark recognized Gibson Dunn as the 2019 Appellate and Labor & Employment Firm of the Year.
The members of our litigation practice group are not just litigators, they are first-rate trial lawyers. Each year, we try numerous cases to verdicts before juries, judges and arbitrators. Our clients have trusted us to try their most significant disputes to verdict.
We have tried cases and argued appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court and state supreme courts in addition to federal and state courts across the United States involving almost every foreseeable area of controversy. We also handle disputes before a wide variety of nonjudicial forums, from federal and state agencies to international arbitrations.
Antitrust & Trade Regulation:
Gibson Dunn serves clients in virtually every significant area of antitrust and trade regulation law, including cartel and government civil investigations, class action treble damage litigation, private antitrust litigation, government review of mergers and acquisitions, and trade regulation matters.
Appellate:
Gibson Dunn has one of the nation’s leading appellate practices with broad experience in complex appellate litigation at all levels of the state and federal court systems. The practice has been involved in matters covering an array of constitutional, statutory, regulatory and common-law issues. Our lawyers have presented arguments in front of the Supreme Court of the United States more than 100 times.
Business Restructuring & Reorganization:
The firm has extensive experience in both US and multinational insolvencies. Its lawyers regularly represent and counsel official creditors’ committees, ad hoc creditor groups, secured lenders, investors and companies (including DIP and exit financing) in out-of-court work-outs and Chapter 11 cases.
Commercial Litigation & Arbitration:
Gibson Dunn’s approach emphasizes the full spectrum of services for our clients. Our litigators are trained to evaluate actual and potential cases at the earliest stages, to first determine if litigation can be avoided, or, if it is filed, whether the matter can be resolved quickly and economically. We pride ourselves on handling our litigation matters as efficiently as possible. Gibson Dunn lawyers are fully familiar with a wide array of alternative dispute resolution techniques, including arbitration, mediation, “mini-trials” and the like.
Intellectual Property:
Gibson Dunn’s deep bench of trial lawyers with technical backgrounds, advanced degrees and industry experience provides the necessary insight to develop and defend against sophisticated claims in a wide range of industries and complex technologies. Our litigators are recognized throughout the industry as leaders in prosecuting, defending and trying IP claims in federal and state courts, before administrative bodies including the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as well as before arbitration panels.
Labor & Employment:
Gibson Dunn is known for our unsurpassed ability to help the world’s preeminent companies tackle their most challenging labor and employment matters. We have prevailed in what are believed to be the largest class actions under several different U.S. employment laws, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the wage and hour laws. Gibson Dun has also worked on high-profile ERISA cases, nationally recognized Sarbanes-Oxley ‘whistleblower’ cases and aggressive advocacy on OSHA issues.
Securities Litigation, Regulation & Corporate Governance:
A recognized leader in the defense of securities class actions, derivative litigation and SEC enforcement actions, the firm advises companies on disclosure, accounting and regulatory issues for domestic and foreign regulatory bodies. The partners include nationally recognized securities class action defense counsel and a number of former senior officials with the SEC, NASD and DOJ.
Transnational Litigation:
Gibson Dunn’s Transnational Litigation practice specializes in protecting clients against claims in U.S. and other courts stemming from overseas activities, as well as reducing and eliminating the risks posed by foreign litigation that, if unchecked, threaten company-wide implications. Our uniquely skilled, creative and experienced transnational team is equipped to manage all aspects of cross-border litigation, including devising, coordinating and implementing offensive and defensive global strategies and has represented clients in some of the highest-profile cases around the world. Gibson Dunn’s international team consists of US, English, French, Spanish and German-qualified lawyers, many of whom are dual qualified.
White Collar Defense & Investigations:
The firm defends prominent companies and executives against federal and state prosecutions and has conducted numerous sensitive internal investigations in areas including anti-money laundering; computer and IP crimes; environmental violations and compliance; FCPA matters; forfeiture (civil and criminal); health care fraud; privacy; procurement fraud; securities, financial institution and accounting fraud; and tax offenses. The practice group includes numerous former federal and state prosecutors and officials, many of whom served at high levels within the DOJ, SEC and other key investigative arms of the government. The American Lawyer named Gibson Dunn the winner in the White-Collar & Regulatory category of its 2016 ‘Litigation Department of the Year’ competition.
Last Updated August 2019
Labor and Employment - US National
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."
California
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
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.
California
Benchmark Rankings
Antitrust
Benchmark California - Tier 1 |
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Davis Polk & Wardwell |
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher |
Latham & Watkins |
O'Melveny & Myers |
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton |
Benchmark California - Tier 2 |
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Farella Braun & Martel |
Jones Day |
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe |
Paul Hastings |
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan |
Environmental
Benchmark California - Tier 1 |
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Allen Matkins |
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher |
Glaser Weil |
Greenberg Glusker |
Latham & Watkins |
O'Melveny & Myers |
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton |
Intellectual Property
Labor and Employment
Securities
District of Columbia
Benchmark Rankings
Labor and Employment - California
Labor and Employment
Labor and Employment - Colorado
Labor and Employment
Highly Recommended |
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Holland & Hart |
Sherman & Howard |
Recommended |
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Davis Graham & Stubbs |
Fisher & Phillips |
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher |
Greenberg Traurig |
Husch Blackwell |
Polsinelli |
Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell |
Labor and Employment - District of Columbia
Labor and Employment
Highly Recommended |
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Cohen Milstein |
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher |
Katz Marshall & Banks |
Morgan Lewis & Bockius |
Paul Hastings |
Sanford Heisler Sharp |
Labor and Employment - US National
Labor and Employment
Tier 1 |
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Gibson Dunn & Crutcher |
Jones Day |
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein |
Morgan Lewis & Bockius |
Outten & Golden |
Proskauer (Labor & Employment) |
Sanford Heisler Sharp |
Seyfarth Shaw |
Tier 2 |
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Altshuler Berzon |
Jackson Lewis |
Katz Marshall & Banks |
Littler Mendelson |
Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart |
O'Melveny & Myers |
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe |
Paul Hastings |
Weil Gotshal & Manges |
Los Angeles/Century City/Irvine
Benchmark Rankings
New York
Benchmark Rankings
Texas
Benchmark Rankings
Top 20 Trial Firms
Top 20 Trial Law Firms
United States
Antitrust
Appellate
General Commercial
Intellectual Property
Product Liability
Securities
White Collar Crime
Attorney | Ranking | Practice Area |
---|---|---|
Austin, Kelly | Dispute Resolution Star | White Collar Crime |
Barsky, Wayne | Local Litigation Star, National Practice Area Star, Top 100 Trial Lawyers | Intellectual Property |
Benson, Cyrus | Dispute Resolution Star | International Arbitration |
Biben, Matthew | Local Litigation Star | Securities |
Blume, Robert | Future Star | |
Boutrous, Jr., Theodore | Local Litigation Star, National Practice Area Star, Labor & Employment Star | Appellate, General Commercial, Labor and Employment, Media and Entertainment, Product Liability, Securities |
Brodsky, Reed | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | White Collar Crime |
Brown, Frederick | Local Litigation Star | Antitrust, General Commercial, Intellectual Property, International Arbitration, Securities |
Brown, Jessica | Labor & Employment Star | Labor and Employment |
Buroker, Brian | Local Litigation Star | Intellectual Property |
Chan, Winston | Local Litigation Star | White Collar Crime |
Chesley, John | Future Star | |
Chung, Daniel | Future Star | |
Cohen, Joel | Local Litigation Star | White Collar Crime |
Conway, Catherine | Labor & Employment Star | Labor and Employment |
Cripps, Jesse | Labor & Employment Star | Labor and Employment |
Dawson, William | Local Litigation Star | Energy and Natural Resources, Intellectual Property, Professional Liability, Securities |
Diamant, Michael | Future Star | |
Dunst, Lee | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | White Collar Crime |
Edelman, Scott | Local Litigation Star, National Practice Area Star | Media and Entertainment, Product Liability |
Estrada, Miguel | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | Appellate |
Evangelis, Theane | Labor & Employment Star, Future Star | Labor and Employment |
Evanson, Blaine | 40 & Under Hot List 2019, Future Star | Appellate, Intellectual Property, Product Liability |
Farges, Jean-Pierre | Dispute Resolution Star | Banking, Commercial and Transactions, Insolvency, Insurance |
Farhang, Michael | Local Litigation Star | Securities, White Collar Crime |
Hammond, Scott | Local Litigation Star | Antitrust |
Ho, Allyson | Local Litigation Star | Appellate |
Jura, Perlette Michele | 2019 Top 250 Women in Litigation, Local Litigation Star | Appellate, Environmental, General Commercial |
Kattan, Joseph | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | Antitrust |
Kirsch, Mark | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | Securities, White Collar Crime |
Kitchens, Dean | Local Litigation Star | General Commercial, Securities |
Krevitt, Josh | Local Litigation Star, National Practice Area Star | Intellectual Property, Product Liability, Securities |
Levin, Gabrielle | 40 & Under Hot List 2019, Labor & Employment Star | Labor and Employment, Securities |
Lipshutz, Joshua | Labor & Employment Star, Local Litigation Star | Labor and Employment |
Loseman, Monica | Future Star | |
Lutz, Brian | Future Star | |
Madden, Penny | Dispute Resolution Star | International Arbitration |
Martin, Scott | Future Star | |
Maryott, Michele | Labor & Employment Star | Labor and Employment |
Mastro, Randy | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star, Top 100 Trial Lawyers | General Commercial, Securities |
McGill, Matthew | Future Star | |
McRae, Marcellus | Local Litigation Star | Media and Entertainment, White Collar Crime |
Neuman, Andrea | 2019 Top 250 Women in Litigation, Local Litigation Star | Mass Tort |
Nicoud III, Trey | Local Litigation Star | Antitrust |
Olson, John | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | Securities, White Collar Crime |
Olson, Theodore | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | Appellate, General Commercial, Product Liability, Securities |
Papez, Elizabeth | Local Litigation Star, 2019 Top 250 Women in Litigation | Antitrust, Appellate |
Parker, Richard | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star, Top 100 Trial Lawyers | Antitrust |
Perry, Mark | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | Appellate, General Commercial |
Poon, Julian | Local Litigation Star | Antitrust, Appellate |
Richardson, Heather | 40 & Under Hot List 2019, Future Star | Class Action, General Commercial, Health Care, Insurance |
Richman, Cynthia | Future Star | |
Rocher, Philip | Dispute Resolution Star | Commercial and Transactions, Insurance, International Arbitration |
Schonfeld, Mark | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | Securities |
Schwartz, Jason | Labor & Employment Star | Labor and Employment |
Smith, Katherine | Labor & Employment Star | Labor and Employment |
Snyder, Orin | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star, Top 100 Trial Lawyers | General Commercial, Intellectual Property |
Southwell, Alexander | Local Litigation Star | Cybersecurity & Privacy, White Collar Crime |
Spratling, Gary | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | Antitrust |
Stein, Deborah L. | 2019 Top 250 Women in Litigation, Local Litigation Star | General Commercial, Securities |
Stevens, Charles | Local Litigation Star | White Collar Crime |
Swanson, Daniel | Local Litigation Star, National Practice Area Star | Antitrust, Product Liability |
Tayrani, Amir | Future Star | |
Thomasch, Daniel | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | General Commercial, Product Liability |
Tulumello, Andrew | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | Appellate, Securities |
Walker, Helgi | Local Litigation Star | Appellate |
Warin, Joseph | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | White Collar Crime |
Williams, Greta | Labor & Employment Star | Labor and Employment |
Yang, Debra | Local Litigation Star | White Collar Crime |
Young, Meryl | 2019 Top 250 Women in Litigation, Local Litigation Star | Class Action, Securities |
Zweifach, Lawrence | National Practice Area Star, Local Litigation Star | White Collar Crime |
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