Brad D. Brian

Brad Brian is the chair of Munger Tolles. He also litigates very big cases.

Just last month, he helped bring in a $500 million settlement to end a hotly contested lawsuit by the state Civil Rights Department accusing Activision Blizzard of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination. California Civil Rights Department v. Activision Blizzard Inc., 21STCV26571 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed July 20, 2021).

Over the last several years, he represented Pacific Gas & Electric in many criminal and civil matters over the large wildfires in Northern California. Now, he is leading the litigation team defending Hawaiian Electric Industries in some 70 individual lawsuits, plus three class actions over the devastating fire on Maui in August. Eder v. Maui Electric Co. Ltd., 1CCV-23-0001045 (1st Circ. Ct., filed Aug. 12, 2023).

Brian also advised Hawaiian Electric’s CEO for her testimony before a pair of U.S. House subcommittees looking into the fire. “We prepared very thoroughly, and the committee was generally interested in finding out what happened,” he said.

And he is at the forefront of the lawsuit against Los Angeles County that blocked the continued use of its cash bail schedule and ended pre-arraignment cash bail for people arrested for very minor crimes. The Superior Court adopted a revised schedule in the fall, but the litigation continues. Urquidi v. City of Los Angeles, 22STCP04044 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Nov. 14, 2022).

Brian expects to go to trial on March 11 to defend an oil pipeline company in continuing litigation over the huge oil spill near Santa Barbara in 2015. He and a Munger Tolles team have represented the company from the beginning. In the current case, a now-bankrupt drilling company claims it lost hundreds of millions of dollars when Brian’s client decided against reopening the pipeline after repairs. He said the trial will take about five weeks. “Everything takes five or six weeks,” he said. Venoco LLC v. Plains Pipeline LP, 16CV01319 (Sta. Barb. Super. Ct., filed April 1, 2016).

The oil spill litigation included criminal as well as civil matters. He likes handling both kinds of cases, and he currently represents clients in several criminal investigations.

— Don DeBenedictis