John C. Hueston

Hueston founded his firm two years ago and already has turned it into one of the most exciting litigation boutiques in the nation. A marathoner who famously runs on little sleep, he has attracted large corporate clients and cutting-edge matters.

With four significant trial wins under his belt in little over a year, Hueston said he is optimistic about the future of his young firm.

“I feel like we’ve been living our creed as a trial firm,” Hueston said, noting that every lawyer at Hueston Hennigan has participated in a trial in the past year. “I’m very proud of that because it has been a concerted effort by our partners to work with clients and train our associates so they can participate in a meaningful way in some of the most challenge and rewarding work as litigators.”

In the spring Hueston secured a $4.8 million damages award for T-Mobile USA Inc. following a two-week trial in Seattle. The jury found that rival Huawei Device Inc. misappropriated trade secrets and breached a supply deal by obtaining data on a T-Mobile phone-testing robot. T-Mobile USA Inc v. Huawei Device USA Inc et al, CV14-01351 (W.D. Wash., filed Sept. 2, 2014).

Hueston successfully defended the California State Bar against a high-profile lawsuit filed by its former executive director, Joseph Dunn, who claimed he was retaliated against for raising concerns about ethical violations within the organization.

Earlier this summer, Hueston convinced a judge to grant an injunction against Toshiba Inc., which his client Western Digital is suing for allegedly breaching their long-standing joint venture agreements. Hueston said this injunction prevented Toshiba from transferring its joint venture interests to another affiliate without his client’s consent, threatening its multibillion-dollar interests. SanDisk LLC v. Toshiba Corp., CGC-17-559962 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed July 6, 2017).

Hueston is representing the Amazon Inc.-owned company IMDb.com Inc. , which sued the State of California for imposing a statute that would require it to remove the birth date of listed actors. In February, a judge granted Hueston’s motion to block implementation of the law because it would have violated the First Amendment. IMDB.com Inc. v. Becerra, CV16-06535 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 10, 2016).

Hueston said the firm, which has doubled in size to more than 60 lawyers, is grateful clients continue to seek it out for high-profile trial work.

“We have been blessed with an increasingly diverse and deep set of clients, which has led to a natural organic growth of the firm,” Hueston said.

— Eli Wolfe