• Lawyers
  • Practices
  • COVID-19 Resources
  • Insights
    • Firm News
    • Press Releases
    • Publications
    • Webcasts
    • Subscribe
    • Media Contacts
  • Careers
    • Career Opportunities
    • Attorney Development
    • Contact Us
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Awards & Accolades
    • Offices
    • Diversity
    • Pro Bono
    • Alumni
    • Contact Us
  • Biography
  • Education
  • Recent Publications
Profile Picture

Theane Evangelis

Theane
Evangelis

Partner

CONTACT INFO

tevangelis@gibsondunn.com

TEL:+1 213.229.7726

FAX:+1 213.229.6726

Los Angeles

333 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071-3197 USA

  • Print
  • |
  • Share
  • |
  • vCard

PRACTICE

Litigation Appellate and Constitutional Law Class Actions Crisis Management Labor and Employment Media, Entertainment and Technology Securities Litigation

BIOGRAPHY

Theane Evangelis is an appellate, class action, and general commercial litigation partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  She serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Class Actions Practice Group and as Vice Chair of the California Appellate Practice Group.  Ms. Evangelis is also a member of the Labor and Employment, Media, Entertainment, and Technology, and Crisis Management Practice Groups.  She joined Gibson Dunn after serving as a law clerk to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor during October Term 2004 and as an associate with Ziffren Brittenham, a Los Angeles law firm specializing in entertainment and media transactions.  Before clerking for Justice O’Connor, Ms. Evangelis was a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Ms. Evangelis has played a lead role in a wide range of appellate, constitutional, media and entertainment, and crisis management matters, as well as a variety of employment, consumer and other class actions, in trial and appellate courts across the country. Her professional achievements are widely recognized by leading publications. In 2020, she was named an “Up and Coming” appellate practitioner in California by Chambers USA, a publication that identifies and ranks the most outstanding lawyers.   Additionally, Benchmark Litigation named her California Labor & Employment Litigation Attorney of the Year for her lead role in a variety of important employment and wage and hour class actions.

Ms. Evangelis has also twice been named a “Class Action MVP” by Law360 and has been named “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer. In 2018 and 2019, she was named as one of Los Angeles’ Most Influential Women Attorneys by the Los Angeles Business Journal, an honor designated for only 75 of the city’s most influential women attorneys. The Daily Journal has named her as a “Top Women Lawyer in California” for 2016-2020.

Recent representative matters include:

  • Serving as lead counsel in the Ninth Circuit and obtaining interlocutory review under Rule 23(f) and reversal of class certification in behalf of a leading retailer.
  • Winning a landmark trial victory on behalf of Grubhub in the federal case ruling that a driver-partner who used Grubhub’s app was an independent contractor, after preemptively defeating class certification;
  • Successfully presented argument in the Sixth Circuit on behalf of Uber Technologies, Inc., in a proposed overtime class action brought by two Uber drivers. The three-judge panel unanimously found that two Michigan men, who accused Uber of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and Michigan labor law by classifying them as independent contractors and denying them wages and other benefits, were bound to arbitrate their claims;
  • Representing Uber in a series of putative class actions asserting that Uber has misclassified drivers as independent contractors, including persuading the Ninth Circuit to grant interlocutory review of a class certification order, and obtaining decisions by the Ninth Circuit enforcing Uber’s arbitration agreements and decertifying a class of hundreds of thousands of drivers;
  • Presenting argument on behalf of Yamaha and obtaining a published, precedential opinion from the Ninth Circuit dismissing a nationwide class action and limiting a manufacturer’s duty to disclose safety-related latent defects under California law;
  • Persuading the Supreme Court of the United States to reverse the certification of the largest employment class action in American history;
  • Representing the plaintiffs from trial to the Supreme Court of the United States in the historic federal constitutional challenge striking down California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8;
  • Serving as lead counsel for the City of Boise in the U.S. Supreme Court in defending the constitutionality of the City’s ban on public camping in Martin v. City of Boise;
  • Obtaining summary judgment in a breach of contract case on behalf of David Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants;
  • Presenting argument on behalf of Hewlett-Packard Company and obtaining a precedent-setting, published opinion from the Ninth Circuit regarding a manufacturer’s duty to disclose latent defects under California law;
  • Obtaining a unanimous victory for Standard Fire in the Supreme Court of the United States in a case involving the proper interpretation of the Class Action Fairness Act;
  • Obtaining reversal of a nearly $90 million judgment in a wage and hour class action in the California Court of Appeal;
  • Serving as appellate counsel to Toyota Motor Company in the multidistrict litigation arising out of drivers’ reports of “unintended acceleration” in Toyota vehicles and persuading the Ninth Circuit to grant interlocutory review of whether “no injury” class-action plaintiffs lack Article III standing;
  • Representing California public school students bringing in a landmark constitutional challenge to state tenure laws that prevent school administrators from hiring and retaining the most effective teachers;
  • Persuading the Ninth Circuit to grant interlocutory review of several class certification decisions;
  • Winning dismissal with prejudice of a putative nationwide consumer class action filed in federal court against a technology company, which was subsequently affirmed by the Ninth Circuit;
  • Securing a dismissal, with prejudice, of a putative nationwide consumer class action filed in federal court against an internet company;
  • Obtaining decertification of a major wage-and-hour class action in state court;
  • Winning a dismissal, with prejudice, in favor of Starbucks Corporation in a contractual dispute with singer-songwriter Carly Simon;
  • Obtaining a dismissal, with prejudice, of a putative nationwide securities class action filed in federal court;
  • Obtaining reversal on constitutional grounds of a significant punitive damage award in state court; and
  • Representing ABM in a series of putative wage and hour class actions in California state and federal courts.

Ms. Evangelis graduated summa cum laude from New York University School of Law in 2003 and received the University Graduation Prize, which is awarded to the student with the highest grade point average in the graduating class. During law school, she was a Butler and Pomeroy Scholar and served as Managing Editor of the New York University Law Review.

Prior to law school, Ms. Evangelis served as a legislative assistant to former U.S. Representative Max Sandlin, for whom she handled financial services, technology, and foreign affairs legislation. She received a B.S. in Foreign Service, cum laude, from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Ms. Evangelis is a member of the California bar and is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, several U.S. Courts of Appeal across the country, and all federal courts in California. Ms. Evangelis serves on the board of the California Women’s Law Center and as an Advisory Board Member of the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival. She serves on the State Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee of the Los Angeles Bar Association and is also a Member of the Board of Trustees of the NYU Law School as well as St. James Episcopal School.

In its annual Top Verdicts of California 2018 feature, the Daily Journal recognized Ms. Evangelis for three of her litigation successes where she was able to obtain record verdicts for clients Uber, Kimberly-Clark and GrubHub.  In 2018, she was selected by The American Lawyer as a Litigator of the Week based on her win on behalf of GrubHub in the first federal case regarding the classification of workers in the “gig” economy.  In 2013, she was named by the Daily Journal as one of the “Top 20 California Attorneys Under 40.”  She has been listed in Law360’s “Rising Stars” for 2013 and 2015 in Appellate Law, and a Class Actions “Rising Star” for 2014.  She was selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the field of Appellate Practice from 2014-2021 and was also named “Los Angeles Appellate Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers®.  In addition, Ms. Evangelis has been recognized by The Recorder as one of California’s “Lawyers on the Fast Track,” and was selected as one of “Greek America’s Forty under 40” by the Greek America Foundation.  Southern California Super Lawyers named her as a “Super Lawyer” in Los Angeles Magazine in the category of Appellate Law, and she was recognized as one of the “25 Most Intriguing Greek Americans of 2010” by Greek America Magazine for her work challenging Proposition 8.   Benchmark Litigation has listed Ms. Evangelis on their “Under 40 Hot List,” which honors the achievements of the nation’s most accomplished legal partners of the age of forty or younger. Benchmark Litigation also recognized her as a California “Future Litigation Star” in their 2018 and 2019 editions.

EDUCATION

New York University - 2003 Juris Doctor

Georgetown University - 1997 Bachelor of Science

ADMISSIONS

California Bar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Firm News - December 24, 2020 | Theane Evangelis and Stuart Graiwer Named Among Leading Professionals in Los Angeles
Client Alert - November 10, 2020 | Third Quarter 2020 Update on Class Actions
Firm News - November 5, 2020 | Daily Journal Names Theane Evangelis and Carrie LeRoy Among 2020 Top Women Lawyers in California
Firm News - October 16, 2020 | Benchmark Litigation US 2021 Gives Top Marks to Gibson Dunn
Client Alert - July 24, 2020 | Second Quarter 2020 Update on Class Actions
Client Alert - April 24, 2020 | First Quarter 2020 Update on Class Actions
Firm News - March 10, 2020 | Gibson Dunn Wins Seven Awards at 2020 Benchmark Litigation US West Awards Ceremony
Client Alert - January 31, 2020 | Year-End and Fourth Quarter 2019 Update on Class Actions
Firm News - November 13, 2019 | Law360 Names Nine Gibson Dunn Partners as 2019 MVPs
Client Alert - November 7, 2019 | Third Quarter 2019 Update on Class Actions
Article - September 18, 2019 | How an Idaho court decision will increase homeless encampments on L.A. streets
Firm News - August 15, 2019 | Gibson Dunn Lawyers Recognized in the Best Lawyers in America® 2020
Client Alert - July 26, 2019 | Second Quarter 2019 Update on Class Actions
Client Alert - May 15, 2019 | First Quarter 2019 Update on Class Actions
Firm News - May 8, 2019 | Theane Evangelis and Debra Wong Yang Named Among Daily Journal’s 2019 Top Women Lawyers in California
Firm News - April 8, 2019 | Theane Evangelis and Debra Wong Yang Named Most Influential Women Lawyers in Los Angeles
Article - April 3, 2019 | Click, Wrap and Scroll: Securing Assent to Online Agreements
Client Alert - February 2, 2019 | California Supreme Court Winter 2019 Round-Up
Client Alert - January 18, 2019 | Fourth Quarter 2018 Update on Class Actions
Client Alert - October 24, 2018 | Third Quarter 2018 Update on Class Actions
Client Alert - July 18, 2018 | Second Quarter 2018 Update on Class Actions
Client Alert - May 4, 2018 | First Quarter 2018 Update on Class Actions
Firm News - May 2, 2018 | Four Partners Named Among California’s 2018 Top Women Lawyers
Press Releases - April 30, 2018 | Ashley Judd Files Suit To Hold Harvey Weinstein Accountable For His “Highly Reprehensible and Despicable” Misconduct
- April 16, 2018 | Candice Choh and Theane Evangelis Named Most Influential Women Attorneys in Los Angeles
Firm News - February 16, 2018 | Michele Maryott and Theane Evangelis Named Litigators of the Week
Client Alert - January 31, 2018 | Fourth Quarter 2017 Update on Class Actions
Client Alert - November 7, 2017 | Third Quarter 2017 Update on Class Actions
Client Alert - September 28, 2017 | California Supreme Court Fall 2017 Round-Up
Client Alert - August 1, 2017 | Second Quarter 2017 Update on Class Actions
Client Alert - May 19, 2017 | First Quarter 2017 Update on Class Actions
Client Alert - March 13, 2017 | Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Potential Impact on the Development of Class Action Law
Client Alert - February 1, 2017 | 2016 Year-End Update on Class Actions
Client Alert - October 27, 2016 | Third Quarter 2016 Update on Class Actions
Article - July 7, 2016 | The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Future of Class Action Waivers
Client Alert - April 28, 2016 | California Supreme Court Spring 2016 Round-Up
Article - October 1, 2015 | The Need to Establish Absent Class Member Standing in Antitrust Class Actions
Client Alert - September 8, 2015 | California Supreme Court Mid-Year Round-Up (September 2015)
Article - June 26, 2015 | Victory for liberty, equality
Article - January 26, 2015 | A Day in Court for Same-Sex Marriage
Client Alert - June 13, 2014 | Los Angeles Superior Court Strikes Down California’s Teacher Tenure Laws in Landmark Decision Protecting Students’ Rights
Client Alert - May 30, 2014 | California Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Statistical Sampling That Deprived Class Action Defendant of Its Ability to Present Individualized Defenses
Client Alert - July 11, 2013 | U.S. Supreme Court Restores Marriage Equality in California
Client Alert - March 20, 2013 | U.S. Supreme Court Prevents Class Action Plaintiffs from Evading Federal Jurisdiction under CAFA
Client Alert - June 28, 2011 | A Win for Wal-Mart, and All Workers
Client Alert - June 21, 2011 | U.S. Supreme Court Unanimously Reverses Ninth Circuit and Holds That Employment Class Action Against Wal-Mart Cannot Proceed
Article - September 1, 2010 | Aggregation or Stacking of Penalties or Punitive Measures
  • Sitemap
  • Client Extranet
  • Legal Notices
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Notice
  • Contact Us
©Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP 2021. All rights reserved.
Top
This website uses cookies to provide analytics on user traffic. By continuing to browse our website, you consent to our use of cookies as set forth in our Cookie Policy. However you may visit Cookie Settings to customize your consent.
Cookie SettingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Analytics

Cookies that tie into analytics systems, such as Google Analytics, YouTube and Vimeo analytics for embedded video, etc. The following are the cookies installed by the service: _ga, _gid, collect, vuid

Performance

These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works. The following cookie is installed by the Google Analytics service: _gat

Save & Accept