Brandon D. Fox

Los Angeles

Brandon D. Fox is the managing partner of Jenner & Block LLP's Los Angeles office and co-chair of the firm's investigations, compliance and defense practice.

Before that, he served as chief of the criminal division and chief of the public corruption and civil rights section for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. During his time as a prosecutor, he led a historic investigation of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which resulted in the successful trials of elected Sheriff Leroy Baca, Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and 19 other law enforcement officers.

More recently, in his current role, Fox has been the lead counsel on several major cases, including a long-running antitrust litigation involving major companies like Kraft, Kellogg, General Mills and Nestle USA, who are plaintiffs against two of the country's largest egg producers and trade associations. Kraft Foods Global, Inc. et al. v. United Egg Producers, Inc. et al. 1:11-cv-08808 (N.D. Ill., filed Dec. 12, 2011).

Fox said his clients alleged that two of the largest egg producers in the nation, Cal-Maine Food and Rose Acre Farms, and two egg trade groups, United Egg Producers and United States Egg Marketers, conspired to inflate the prices of eggs from the late 1990s through at least 2008. The complexity of this case is highlighted by its age, the disguise of the conspiracy as an animal welfare program and the challenges of proving the case through defendants' executives.

First, the case was old, meaning that important witnesses were no longer available to us," Fox said. "Second, defendants disguised a large portion of their conspiracy as an animal welfare program, which made it be difficult from a jury appeal standpoint. Third, defendants were successful in two other jury trials brought by separate plaintiffs. We developed a strategy that included proving our case through the defendants' executives. It was a challenging case, and we were extremely happy to have been successful."

The trial, which was split into two phases, concluded on Dec. 1 with a $17.7 million verdict in favor of Fox's clients.

In another significant case, Fox defended the Eggo Company against environmental criminal charges related to an ammonia leak at a production facility in Northern California. The People of the State of California vs. The Eggo Company, C2200722 (Santa Clara Sup. Ct., filed Jan. 21, 2022).

The case concluded favorably for Eggo, resulting in a small fine of $85,000, owing to the company's cooperation with regulators and enhancements to its processes and protocols.