Brian C. Rocca

Rocca, who focuses on antitrust and complex litigation matters, is the managing partner of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP's San Francisco office. When the firm joined forces with Bingham McCutchen LLP in 2014, he was entrusted as a former Bingham litigator with making the combination work.

"I helped with the integration, and we've been pleased at how well it has been going," he said. "It's a success story. We are now the third-largest law office in San Francisco." The 135 lawyers are currently working away from their Spear Tower highrise due to the coronavirus pandemic. "Lawyering remotely is doable."

Rocca has led Uber Technologies Inc.'s defense in a recent series of competition cases that highlighted how antitrust principles can be used to defend disruptive businesses from rivals' attacks.

In one case, San Francisco's oldest taxicab company accused Uber of Sherman Act monopolization violations, intentional interference with prospective economic relations and failure to charge just and reasonable rates, among other claims. Desoto Cab Co. Inc. d/b/a Flywheel v. Uber Technologies Inc., 16-cv-06385 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 2, 2016).

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White of San Francisco largely dismissed the complaint in March 2020. "Our overall approach is that antitrust law is designed to protect competition, not to punish it," Rocca said. In his order White agreed. "Flywheel's allegations demonstrate no more than the evolution of the San Francisco Ride-Hail Market," he wrote. "A market's shift towards a different model does not suggest that competition is imperiled. Instead, this suggests that innovation is causing the market to evolve and that competition is working."

Rocca noted that White gave the plaintiff leave to amend its complaint for a third time, but said the effort is unlikely to succeed. "There's a little bit of a disgruntled competitor aspect to this case," he added. "Uber fills a need in our society."

A similar case brought by several taxi companies and taxi medallion owners alleged violations of California's Unfair Practices Act and its prohibition against below-cost sales. A trial judge sustained Rocca's demurrer, and the 1st District Court of Appeal affirmed the ruling that when the state Public Utility Commission has jurisdiction to set rates, as it has in Uber's case, a statutory exemption applies in Uber's favor. The panel noted that three federal district courts reached the same conclusion. Uber Technologies Pricing Cases, A154694 (1st DCA, opinion filed March 23, 2020).

"I'm not there right now, but from Spear Tower I can look around the Bay Area an see companies that are changing the world, that are run by young lawyers who want young counsel to defend their innovation, and that's my job," Rocca said.

-- John Roemer