Brad D. Brian

Profile
Memberships
Accolades

Brad Brian is a national trial lawyer based in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson. A complex civil and criminal litigator, Mr. Brian is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been identified by Chambers USA as one of the top 25 trial lawyers in the country. In January 2013, Best Lawyers named Mr. Brian a "Lawyer of the Year" for Bet-the-Company Litigation. For more than a decade, Mr. Brian has been named to the Daily Journal’s “Top 100” list of lawyers in California.

Mr. Brian has represented numerous Fortune 500 corporations including GE, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, MGM Resorts, Hewlett Packard, Warner Bros., Costco, Archer Daniels Midland, AXA Financial, Allstate Insurance Co., KB Homes and others in their most challenging, high-profile lawsuits and government investigations. This work has included multi-billion dollars trials; DOJ, SEC and/or NASD investigations for alleged securities, environmental, government contracts, public corruption, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or other violations; and conducting more than 100 internal corporate investigations. He also has defended companies against more than 40 lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.

Mr. Brian is widely considered a “lawyer’s lawyer,” having represented a number of the largest law firms in the country in legal malpractice and malicious prosecution matters, including three victories at trial. He has also represented lawyers in criminal investigations of alleged false statements, false loan applications, obstruction of justice, and alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Mr. Brian has developed substantial expertise in the areas of attorney-client privilege and attorney work product. His article, “The Importance of a Plan in Litigation,” was published in the 2013 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Lawyers.

In 1977, Mr. Brian graduated magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School, where he served as the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Brian served as law clerk to the Honorable John J. Gibbons of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit during the 1977-78 term. From 1978 to 1981, Mr. Brian was an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, where he tried many criminal cases in U.S. District Court and argued numerous appeals before the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Mr. Brian graduated with great distinction in 1974 from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was one of two recipients of the Robert Gordon & Ida Sproul award for the most outstanding contribution to the university. Mr. Brian was  a member of the United States All Star Baseball team playing in the World Amateur Games in 1972. While playing varsity baseball for Berkeley, he earned three Varsity baseball letters, was Team Captain in 1973, was voted Most Valuable Player in 1974, was selected First Team All-Pac 8 (Southern Division) and Second Team Academic All-American in 1974, and was awarded an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship.

Key Representations

  • Transocean, a drilling company, as lead counsel, in litigation arising from the April 20, 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
  • DoubleLine Capital and certain of its founders, including its CEO Jeffrey Gundlach, in winning a $66.7 million jury verdict in favor of Gundlach against his former employer, Trust Co. of the West (TCW), on his cross-complaint. TCW originally brought suit against Mr. Gundlach and his company, DoubleLine Capital, claiming breach of fiduciary duty, trade secret theft and tortious interference in connection with a large scale departure of employees to DoubleLine Capital after Mr. Gundlach was fired. The jury awarded no damages on TCW's complaint against DoubleLine Capital and the individual defendants.
  • Boeing in its successful defense against $7 billion breach of contract, fraud and tortious interference claims brought by ICO Global Communications Holdings related to construction and launch of 12 satellites for a telecommunications network.
  • LG Display in its defense against a class action antitrust case stemming from allegations of price-fixing among manufacturers of display panels. The matter was successfully resolved on behalf of LG in April 2012.
  • Rhonda Byrne in a copyright suit challenging the Australian author's copyrights to “The Secret,” Simon & Schuster’s all-time best-seller.  Mr. Brian was hired as lead trial counsel just six weeks before trial and successfully convinced a Chicago federal jury to reject all claims.
  • The outside directors of Costco Wholesale Corp. in a shareholders’ derivative suit in U.S.  District Court in the Western District of Washington, arising from the alleged backdating of stock options by the company. The case settled in December 2010.
  • Corinthian Colleges Inc. against claims made by a former employee and a former independent contractor that Corinthian violated conditions for receiving Higher Education Act funds by providing bonuses based on recruitment numbers.
  • KB Home in class action lawsuits alleging violations of the RICO Act and California’s Unfair Competition Law arising from the 2006-2007 housing bubble burst.

Brad Brian is a national trial lawyer based in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson. A complex civil and criminal litigator, Mr. Brian is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been identified by Chambers USA as one of the top 25 trial lawyers in the country. In January 2013, Best Lawyers named Mr. Brian a "Lawyer of the Year" for Bet-the-Company Litigation. For more than a decade, Mr. Brian has been named to the Daily Journal’s “Top 100” list of lawyers in California.

Mr. Brian has represented numerous Fortune 500 corporations including GE, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, MGM Resorts, Hewlett Packard, Warner Bros., Costco, Archer Daniels Midland, AXA Financial, Allstate Insurance Co., KB Homes and others in their most challenging, high-profile lawsuits and government investigations. This work has included multi-billion dollars trials; DOJ, SEC and/or NASD investigations for alleged securities, environmental, government contracts, public corruption, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or other violations; and conducting more than 100 internal corporate investigations. He also has defended companies against more than 40 lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.

Mr. Brian is widely considered a “lawyer’s lawyer,” having represented a number of the largest law firms in the country in legal malpractice and malicious prosecution matters, including three victories at trial. He has also represented lawyers in criminal investigations of alleged false statements, false loan applications, obstruction of justice, and alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Mr. Brian has developed substantial expertise in the areas of attorney-client privilege and attorney work product. His article, “The Importance of a Plan in Litigation,” was published in the 2013 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Lawyers.

In 1977, Mr. Brian graduated magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School, where he served as the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Brian served as law clerk to the Honorable John J. Gibbons of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit during the 1977-78 term. From 1978 to 1981, Mr. Brian was an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, where he tried many criminal cases in U.S. District Court and argued numerous appeals before the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Mr. Brian graduated with great distinction in 1974 from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was one of two recipients of the Robert Gordon & Ida Sproul award for the most outstanding contribution to the university. Mr. Brian was  a member of the United States All Star Baseball team playing in the World Amateur Games in 1972. While playing varsity baseball for Berkeley, he earned three Varsity baseball letters, was Team Captain in 1973, was voted Most Valuable Player in 1974, was selected First Team All-Pac 8 (Southern Division) and Second Team Academic All-American in 1974, and was awarded an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship.

Key Representations

  • Transocean, a drilling company, as lead counsel, in litigation arising from the April 20, 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
  • DoubleLine Capital and certain of its founders, including its CEO Jeffrey Gundlach, in winning a $66.7 million jury verdict in favor of Gundlach against his former employer, Trust Co. of the West (TCW), on his cross-complaint. TCW originally brought suit against Mr. Gundlach and his company, DoubleLine Capital, claiming breach of fiduciary duty, trade secret theft and tortious interference in connection with a large scale departure of employees to DoubleLine Capital after Mr. Gundlach was fired. The jury awarded no damages on TCW's complaint against DoubleLine Capital and the individual defendants.
  • Boeing in its successful defense against $7 billion breach of contract, fraud and tortious interference claims brought by ICO Global Communications Holdings related to construction and launch of 12 satellites for a telecommunications network.
  • LG Display in its defense against a class action antitrust case stemming from allegations of price-fixing among manufacturers of display panels. The matter was successfully resolved on behalf of LG in April 2012.
  • Rhonda Byrne in a copyright suit challenging the Australian author's copyrights to “The Secret,” Simon & Schuster’s all-time best-seller.  Mr. Brian was hired as lead trial counsel just six weeks before trial and successfully convinced a Chicago federal jury to reject all claims.
  • The outside directors of Costco Wholesale Corp. in a shareholders’ derivative suit in U.S.  District Court in the Western District of Washington, arising from the alleged backdating of stock options by the company. The case settled in December 2010.
  • Corinthian Colleges Inc. against claims made by a former employee and a former independent contractor that Corinthian violated conditions for receiving Higher Education Act funds by providing bonuses based on recruitment numbers.
  • KB Home in class action lawsuits alleging violations of the RICO Act and California’s Unfair Competition Law arising from the 2006-2007 housing bubble burst.

Memberships

Mr. Brian has been active in the leadership of the ABA Litigation Section since 1986, and served as the Chair of the Section in 2005-2006.  Mr. Brian spearheaded an innovative pro bono program to train Sudanese lawyers to represent victims of the crisis in Darfur before the International Criminal Court.

Mr. Brian’s additional involvement outside of Munger Tolles includes:

  • RAND Civil Justice Institute, Board of Directors (current), past chairman (2010-2011)
  • American Bar Association Section of Litigation, former chair (2005-06)
  • Best Lawyers in America, Board of Advisors (current)
  • Los Angeles Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, past president
  • Central District of California attorney delegates to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, past chair
  • Legal Aid Foundation, former Board of Directors member and past president
  • Western Justice Center Foundation, former Board of Directors member
  • Indigent Defense Panel for the United States District Court in Los Angeles, former member
  • Pro Se Panel for the United States District Court in Los Angeles, founder and former chair
  • Teaching trial advocacy at the University of Southern California Law Center, Harvard Law School’s trial advocacy program, and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy
  • Internal Corporate Investigations (ABA, 3d Ed., 2003), Co-editor
  • Joffrey Ballet, Board of Directors and former vice chairman
  • Los Angeles County Music Center, Board of Directors, former member and Chair of Dance Committee

Accolades

Mr. Brian is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, and for more than a decade, the Daily Journal has named him among the 100 most influential attorneys in California. California Lawyer recognized him among the top five commercial litigators in the state and The National Law Journal identified one of his trials among the top 10 trial victories in the United States that year. Mr. Brian is listed in Best Lawyers in five separate categories including business litigation, criminal defense, legal malpractice and bet-the-company cases, and in Chambers USA, with the highest rankings in California, for commercial litigation as well as white collar and government investigations.