Amy T. Brantly

Brantly is the managing partner at Kesselman Brantly Stockinger, the firm she co-founded in 2014 with others who had worked in an antitrust group at Goldberg, Lowenstein & Weatherwax LLP. Earlier, she’d been of counsel at Susman Godfrey LLP. She is a past president of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and was voted into membership in the Chancery Club in 2017.

She focuses on business litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants regarding antitrust and unfair competition claims, with a subspecialty in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Boutique life suits her. “I really like the atmosphere here,” she said. “People are accessible and collaborative.”

Brantly is likely among the very few who within the last two years have successfully argued cases before both the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Hawaiian Supreme Court.

After another firm lost on summary judgment and at an intermediate state appellate court, Brantly was retained as lead counsel to petition for rehearing at the Hawaiian Supreme Court. The issue was whether the National Collegiate Athletic Association dealt unfairly with the sponsor of the Aloha Bowl, one of its certified postseason football events. Field, Trustee of the Bankruptcy Estate of Aloha Sports Inc. v. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, SCWC-15-0000663 (S. Ct. Hawaii, opinion filed Nov. 20, 2018).

“I was very excited to argue this case because it was an uphill battle where my client’s antitrust claim had been thrown out by the trial court and on appeal,” Brantly said. “But the justices were great, and they agreed with my claims of error.” The case, now revived, is set for trial in February 2021.

For grocery store chain Earth Fare Inc., Brantly was lead counsel defending against a plaintiff’s claim the client had violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and California’s Unfair Competition Law for sending text messages without consent. U.S. District S. Judge James Otero of Los Angeles, who is now retired, dismissed the matter without leave to amend following Brantly’s briefing; the plaintiff appealed. Epps v. Earth Fare Inc., 17-55413 (9th Cir., op. filed Oct. 26, 2018).

The circuit panel agreed that the plaintiff failed plausibly to allege that she had reasonably revoked her consent to receive the messages, affirming Brantly’s win. The decision has been widely cited by other courts and has led to further TCPA work for Brantly, including in a class action in Illinois and in consulting with other clients.

“The best part of antitrust law is that you get to learn about different industries. I go to work happy every day,” she said.

— John Roemer