Brad D. Brian

This year, Brian handled some of the nation's most closely watched civil cases.

In one case, Trust Company of the West (TCW) sought $566 million from fired bond fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach and his new business, DoubleLine Capital LP, alleging he stole company trade secrets. In September 2011, the jury found Gundlach wasn't liable for any damages and instead ordered TCW to pay him $66.7 million in unpaid wages. Brian led Gundlach's trial team, which countersued for $500 million in damages related to his dismissal from the company. Trust Company of the West v. Gundlach, BC429385 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Jan. 7, 2010).

Brian said his team's biggest challenge was that Gundlach and his fellow defendants had downloaded data from TCW, although they maintained that the data had been remediated and returned without being used.

"We developed a trial strategy designed to show that there was a big dispute at Trust Company of the West between Mr. Gundlach and Trust Company of the West management about the future direction of the company, and we argued that they and their French parent planned to fire Gundlach long before they actually did, and long before they discovered any evidence of the downloading," Brian said.

Brian also helped client LG Display Co. Ltd. reach a $380 million settlement in a federal antitrust class action in San Francisco claiming the company fixed prices in the market for liquid crystal display panels. And he saw the reversal of a 2008 judgment in excess of $600 million against client The Boeing Co. in a breach of contract, fraud and tortious interference case brought by ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Ltd., now called Pendrell Corp.

Brian continues to devote a significant amount of his time to the long-standing litigation with offshore drilling company Transocean Ltd. in connection with the April 2010 BP plc oil rig explosion and resulting oil spill. As the lead counsel for Transocean, he oversees the civil case set to begin Jan. 4, as well as suits by private plantiffs, the Department of Justice and the states of Louisiana and Alabama.

"It's the most interesting factual and legal case I've ever had. It's incredibly challenging and difficult," he said. "There are a lot of different parts to it - state law, federal law, maritime law, all kinds of issues."

Brian, who also represents law firms in legal malpractice suits, has a history of taking on tough cases dating back to his days at Harvard Law School.

In his last semester there, he enrolled in a trial advocacy class and worked on the Prison Legal Assistance Project, handling parole hearings and disciplinary hearings in front of a prison guard board.

"You think a jury is tough to convince. Try representing an inmate in front of the prison guard board," he said.

- CAITLIN JOHNSON