Overview
Brad Brian is a national trial lawyer and chair of Munger, Tolles & Olson.
A complex civil and criminal litigator, Brad is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He was recently named to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2025 LA500 List of the most influential people in Los Angeles. He is recognized by both Chambers USA and Chambers Global as one of the top trial lawyers in the country, having been ranked in Band 1 in both categories.
Chambers USA calls him a “heavyweight litigator for the full range of commercial and criminal trials” and highlights client feedback that he is “among the best to handle big-ticket litigation.”
Brad has served as lead trial and litigation counsel in some of the largest crisis cases in the country over the past dozen years, including:
- Hawaiian Electric in the Maui wildfire litigation
- PG&E in its civil and criminal litigation arising from Northern California wildfire
- MGM Resorts in the litigation arising from the 2017 terrorist shooting at the Mandalay Bay Hotel
- Transocean, the offshore drilling giant, in the massive civil litigation arising out of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy
Brad won significant trial victories for Transocean; PG&E in the criminal case arising from the Zogg fire; Jeffrey Gundlach and DoubleLine Capital in a trial against Trust Company of the West; and Rhonda Byrne (the author of The Secret.)”
Brad is widely considered a “lawyer’s lawyer,” having represented many 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. Brad has developed substantial expertise in the areas of attorney-client privilege and attorney work product.
Brad has conducted more than 100 internal corporate investigations. He also has handled more than 50 lawsuits under the False Claims Act.
Brad graduated with great distinction from the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned three varsity baseball letters, was a member of the United States All-Star Baseball team playing in the World Amateur Games and was selected First Team All-Pac 8 (Southern Division) and Second Team Academic All-American.
Featured Achievement.
Brad Brian and Jonathan Blavin Recognized by the Daily Journal as 2025 Leading Commercial Litigators
Munger, Tolles & Olson Firm Chair Brad Brian and partner Jonathan Blavin have been named 2025 Leading Commercial Litigators by the Daily Journal. This award recognizes the top litigation attorneys nationwide.
Capabilities
Experience
Major Cases
Brad established his reputation as a go-to trial lawyer more than 30 years ago in a 10-week, criminal jury trial in defense of the former chairman of Columbia Savings & Loan. Brad obtained a judgment of acquittal or defense jury verdict on all 45 criminal counts. An editorial in The Wall Street Journal at the time said Brad’s closing argument brought people in the courtroom to tears. His trial win was named by The National Law Journal as one of the 10 big trial victories that year.
Key cases include:
Netflix in a major jury trial win in a December 2024 trial arising from the documentary film, “Our Father” about a fertility doctor who, unbeknownst to the mothers, fathered 100 children with his own semen. Two of the children sued for invasion of privacy and related claims, arguing that they had not consented to the use of their names in the documentary. The two plaintiffs originally were seeking more than $150 million, $32 million after the trial judge granted Netflix’s motion for a directed verdict on punitive damages. The jury awarded the two plaintiffs $0 and $387,000, respectively.
Plains All American Pipeline in connection with a pipeline that spilled oil into the Pacific Ocean near Santa Barbara in 2015. Brad was lead trial counsel in a jury trial in 2024 in Santa Barbara that was brought by the trustee in bankruptcy for Venoco, an offshore drilling company. The case settled after seven weeks of jury trial.
Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. and subsidiaries as lead litigation counsel arising from the August 2023 devastating Maui wildfires, including the Lahaina Fire, which was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in over a century.
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) as lead trial counsel in two criminal cases in Sonoma and Shasta Counties, one in 2022 and another in 2023. In both cases, the District Attorneys dismissed all the criminal charges after hotly contested preliminary hearings. In the 2023 case in Shasta County, after a one-month evidentiary hearing the Court issued orders dismissing 29 out of 31 counts, including the four manslaughter charges and all other felony charges; the District Attorney dropped the remaining charges in favor of a civil settlement.
Transocean, a drilling company, as lead trial counsel in criminal and civil litigation arising from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. After an almost three-month trial, the court delivered a defense verdict finding that under the drilling contract, BP bore indemnity obligations for the millions of barrels of oil discharged from the Macondo well.
MGM Resorts International as lead counsel in civil litigation arising from the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. After thousands of victims threatened to sue MGM, Brad led a several-month mediation that resulted in a settlement of substantially all plaintiffs’ claims.
Fortress Investment Group as lead trial counsel in obtaining a complete defense verdict in a five-week bench trial in a lawsuit filed by a life settlement investment fund seeking more than $200 million in damages and bringing claims of breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, unfair competition, breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets.
DoubleLine Capital and certain of its founders, including its CEO Jeffrey Gundlach, as lead trial counsel 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.
An aerospace company in its successful defense against $7 billion breach of contract, fraud and tortious interference claims brought by a satellite communications company related to construction and launch of 12 satellites for a telecommunications network.
The Kobe Bryant Estate in the wrongful death suit against Island Express, the helicopter company that was transporting the eight passengers – including Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna – who all perished in the crash on Jan. 26, 2020.
Rhonda Byrne in a copyright suit challenging the Australian author’s copyrights to The Secret, Simon & Schuster’s all-time bestseller. Brad was hired as lead trial counsel just six weeks before trial and successfully convinced a Chicago federal jury to reject all claims.
National law firms as lead trial counsel in three trial victories for national law firms accused of legal malpractice or malicious prosecution.
More
- Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers, inducted 1998
- Fellow, International Academy of Trial Lawyers, inducted 2013
- Chambers Global – Band 1 for Litigation: Trial Lawyers
- Chambers USA – Band 1 Nationwide for Litigation: General Commercial
- Chambers USA – “Star Individual,” the highest ranking in California, for Litigation: General Commercial; as well as Band 1 for White Collar Crime & Government Investigations; Litigation: Trial Lawyers; and Law Firm Defense
- The Best Lawyers in America for Bet-the-Company Litigation; Commercial Litigation; Corporate Compliance Law; Corporate Governance Law; Criminal Defense: White-Collar, 2026
- Named by the Los Angeles Business Journal among the Top 500 Most Influential People in Los Angeles, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025; and Leader of Influence: Litigators and Trial Attorneys, 2020, 2022, 2023
- Lawdragon Top 500 Leading Litigators in America, 2023, 2024
- Lawdragon Hall of Fame, inducted 2022
- Named one of 18 Lawyers of the Decade in California by the Daily Journal, 2021
- Received Global ranking for litigation trial lawyers by Chambers Global, 2019
- Named among Top 100 most influential attorneys in California by the Daily Journal for 25 consecutive years
- Named a “Litigator of the Year” by The American Lawyer, 2016
- Named a “Winning Litigator” by The National Law Journal, 2015
- Recipient, California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award, 2015
- Recipient, Learned Hand Award, the highest honor the American Jewish Committee bestows on members of the legal profession, 2013
- Recipient, Maynard Toll Award for Distinguished Public Service, presented by the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
- Recognized among the top five commercial litigators in the state by California Lawyer
- Identified by The National Law Journal for having among the top 10 trial victories in the United States
- Fellow, Berkeley Fellows, inducted 2015
- Lawyer of the Year for Bet-the-Company Litigation, The Best Lawyers in America, 2013
- Maynard Toll Award for “Distinguished Public Service”, awarded by the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles County, 2007
- Learned Hand Award, awarded by the American Jewish Committee Los Angeles, 2013. Named after Judge Learned Hand, a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the award is given to “outstanding members of the legal profession in recognition of their activities and achievements for the betterment of the community.”
- Current co-chair of Capital Campaign; former board of directors, past president, Legal Aid Foundation
- Board of directors, former member and chair of Dance Committee, Los Angeles County Music Center
- Board of directors, Southern California Public Radio, 2023-present
- Board of directors, Cable One, 2015-present
- Member, board of trustees, University of California, Berkeley Foundation, 2015-2024
- Chair, RAND Institute for Civil Justice, former board of overseers, 2011-2012
- Board member, Cal Baseball Foundation
- Board of directors and former vice chair, Joffrey Ballet
- Chair, Litigation Section, American Bar Association, 2005-2006
- Head of pro bono program to train Sudanese lawyers to represent victims of genocide before International Criminal Court, American Bar Association, 2006-2007
- Former board of advisors, Best Lawyers in America
- Past president, Los Angeles Chapter of the Federal Bar Association
- Past chair, Central District of California attorney delegates to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference
- Past President, Board of Directors, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles County
- Former board of directors member, Western Justice Center Foundation
- Founder and former chair, Pro Se Panel for the United States District Court in Los Angeles
- Former member, Indigent Defense Panel for the United States District Court in Los Angeles
- 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
Publications
- Co-editor, Internal Corporate Investigations, ABA, 4th Ed., 2017
- “The Importance of a Plan in Litigation,” U.S. News & World Report’s Best Lawyers, 2013 edition
