Scott A. Edelman is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Century City office.  Mr. Edelman is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department, multiple practice groups, and he is Co-Chair of its Media, Entertainment and Technology Practice Group.  He also is the firm’s National Pro Bono Chair.

Mr. Edelman has first-chaired numerous jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations, taking well over twenty to final verdict or decision.  He has a broad background in commercial litigation, including antitrust, class actions, employment, entertainment and intellectual property, real estate, and product liability.  Mr. Edelman is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.  Fellowship is extended by invitation only to the best of the trial bar of the United States and Canada and cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province.

Mr. Edelman has substantial experience trying high stake fraud cases, including representing the plaintiff in obtaining a $122 million dollar federal jury verdict in Intertainment v. Franchise Pictures and achieving the dismissal of two toxic torts cases against Dole Foods because of fraud on the court by plaintiffs and their counsel.  The Dole victory was featured as the cover story of the October issues of California Lawyer and Corporate Counsel, and received widespread newspaper coverage, including a front-page feature story in the Wall Street Journal.  Mr. Edelman and his practice group’s work for Dole and Chevron also were prominently mentioned in: “Litigation Department of the Year,” The American Lawyer (January 2010/2012); and “The Kill Step,” The American Lawyer/Corporate Counsel (October 2009).  Mr. Edelman recently served as coordinating counsel for World Fuel Services, Inc. in relation to the various litigations arising from the derailment of a train in Lac-Mégantic, Montreal in July, 2014. In 2015, Mr. Edelman represented the University of California in a multi-week bench trial against an international consulting firm in asserting actuarial malpractice and violations of the False Claims Act. He was also lead counsel for Sun Pacific Shippers, L.P., et al. in a dispute over contractual rights and interests relating to “Cuties” brand mandarin oranges.  In 2016, he was lead counsel for Wal-Mart in a multi-week trial of a federal class action brought by 850 Wal-Mart truck drivers.

Mr. Edelman has received numerous accolades.  The Daily Journal has ranked him as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California.  He has received a Clay Award as “Lawyer of the Year” from California Lawyer and was recognized as an “Attorney of the Year” by The Recorder.  He was also named the “Litigator of the Year” by the Century City Bar Association, and was one of 10 litigators named in the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers in Los Angeles, “Best of the Bar” and one of the “Best Lawyers in America” by American Lawyer Media.  Mr. Edelman also received the Learned Hand Award in June 2015 from the American Jewish Committee. The award is presented to outstanding leaders in the legal profession and is the highest honor the AJC bestows on members of the legal profession.

Mr. Edelman was recently recognized by Legal 500 as a leading lawyer in media and entertainment and in Who’s Who Legal’s Sports guide for 2018. He was also selected as a Top 10 Southern California Super Lawyer by SuperLawyers, and has been ranked in numerous other legal industry publications.  He has been repeatedly named by Chambers USA as a Leading Media and Entertainment Litigation Lawyer in California; by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the top 100 “Power Lawyers”; by Daily Variety’s as one of Hollywood’s top litigators; and by The Best Lawyers in America® in the category of Entertainment Law: Motion Pictures & Television.  He has been named a California ” litigation star” in Media and Entertainment Litigation in the 2012 – 2016 editions of Benchmark Litigation.  The Daily Journal has repeatedly rated him as a top entertainment lawyer.  Recently, Billboard named Mr. Edelman to its list of the Music Industry’s Top Lawyers 2016, featuring “41 of the top legal minds in the music business.”

Mr. Edelman received his law degree from the University of California (Boalt Hall) in 1984, where he was Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Ecology Law Quarterly.  He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Stanford University in 1981, where he graduated with distinction.  Prior to joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Mr. Edelman clerked for United States District Court Judge Jesse W. Curtis in the Central District of California.

Mr. Edelman is a former Chairman of the Board of Directors of KCET Public Television.  He is a member of the Board of Directors and past president of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a legal aid organization for the indigent. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Children’s Rights and Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles.  In 2016, Mr. Edelman was elected Regional President of the American Jewish Committee Los Angeles.  He is a member of the Chancery Club in Los Angeles.

A list of Mr. Edelman’s cases is available on request.

Recent Publications

• “Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in 29 Jurisdictions Worldwide – U.S.,” Getting the Deal Through (November, 2015)
• “Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in 29 Jurisdictions Worldwide – U.S.,” Getting the Deal Through (October, 2014)
• “Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in 29 Jurisdictions Worldwide,” Getting the Deal Through (September 1, 2013)
• International Aspects of U.S. Litigation: Practitioner’s Deskbook (contributing author) (ABA, 2013)
• “Defending Actions In The United States Arising From Alleged Foreign-Based Torts,” Rocky Mountain Mineral Foundation for the proceedings of the 57^th Annual Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute (July 2011)
• “District Court Denies Enforcement of $97 Million Nicaraguan Judgment Based on Lack of Due Process and Judicial Corruption,” The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel (2009)
• “Copyright Infringement Damages,” Intellectual Property Law, Damages and Remedies, Chapter 2, Law Journal Press (2000)