Kelly Klaus and Bryan Heckenlively Named 2020 Trailblazers

The National Law Journal named Kelly Klaus and Bryan Heckenlively and 2020 Trailblazers for their work in Litigation and First Amendment Rights, respectively on Nov. 2, 2020.

Mr. Klaus was honored for his representation of several Hollywood studios in one of the highest-profile litigation matters in recent years. In June 2019, a California federal jury ordered the movie streaming service VidAngel to pay $62.4 million in statutory damages to several Hollywood studios. Mr. Klaus convinced a jury that VidAngel willfully pirated by copying and streaming Plaintiffs’ movies. The jury awarded the studios $75,000 in damages for each of the 819 infringed movies and an additional $1 million in statutory damages for VidAngel’s violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act – one of the largest jury awards of statutory damages, both on a per-work-infringed amount basis and in total.

The publication noted in particular Mr. Heckenlively’s representation of the University of California when it faced a critical situation around campus speech and protest at its campuses following the presidential inauguration in 2017. Mr. Heckenlively worked with UC campuses on drafting new campus speech policies and was lead counsel for the University in a series of lawsuits and pre-litigation demands in connection with appearances by Ann Coulter, Ben Shapiro, and others at UC campuses. Mr. Heckenlively obtained a ruling from a federal court upholding UC Berkeley’s policy and, earlier this year, a Ninth Circuit decision affirming the dismissal of a lawsuit raising First Amendment and Due Process claims.

Read more about the Litigation and Political Activism/First Amendment Rights distinctions in The National Law Journal.

Kelly Klaus is a litigation partner who focuses his practice on copyright and related litigation, including antitrust and class action litigation. He has represented the major motion picture studios, the major recorded music companies and many other entities in some of their highest-profile litigation matters in recent years.

Bryan H. Heckenlively is a litigation partner who handles complex litigation for clients in the technology, financial services, and higher education industries and has successfully tried multiple cases to verdict as lead counsel. Mr. Heckenlively counsels clients on privacy and data security issues and First Amendment obligations.