Gary S. Lincenberg

Lincenberg’s success as a white-collar and government investigations litigator has placed him at the center of marquee cases.

In late August he had a half-day off between two headline-grabbing trials: he was awaiting the result of his representation of four neighbors suing Los Angeles real estate developer Mohamed Hadid—the father of celebrity models Bella and Gigi Hadid—over the construction of an unfinished, illegally constructed hillside mansion in Bel-Air. In March, Lincenberg won appellate confirmation of a demolition order for the structure. Bedrosian v. Hadid, SC129388 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 7, 2018).

The next day he was scheduled to drive to Arizona to represent at a criminal trial John “Jed” Brunst, the CFO and part owner of a media holding company whose Backpage.com classified ad website has been accused of running content that solicits prostitution and promotes human trafficking. The outcome is considered important for the tech and publishing industries regarding permissible activities on internet platforms. U.S. v. Lacey, 2:18-cr-00422 (D. Ariz., filed arch 28, 2018).

“I’m running on fumes at the moment,” Lincenberg said of his intense courtroom schedule.

In May, Lincenberg won an anti-SLAPP motion and obtained dismissal of a defamation lawsuit by Republican Joe Collins III, a political foe of Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters and her campaign committee, stemming from comments she made about the plaintiff during the November 2020 election campaign. Along with the dismissal came a $53,000 price tag Collins must pay for Lincenberg’s fees and costs. Collins v. Waters, 20STCV37401 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 30, 2020).

A more complex case was his win at a federal bench trial last year of a multimillion-dollar judgment against a major defense contractor for his client KST Data Inc. in a breach of contract suit. That victory followed Lincenberg’s successful defense of KST in claims by two defense contractors over contract terms. KST Data Inc. v. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., 2:17-cv-05125 (C.D. Cal., filed July 12, 2017).

“We won against Northrop and got a favorable settlement against Hewlett-Packard in this case,” Lincenberg said. “In my world, this wasn’t the most publicized case, but it was unique because we first got charges dismissed against my client, and then we went on the offensive when my client was willing to take on these major defense contractors. We sued each of them, and that’s not something I’d often recommend. But we were confident in the facts.”

- John Roemer