Blaine H. Evanson is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s litigation department, practicing primarily in the appellate and constitutional law practice group. He has represented clients in several matters before the Supreme Court of the United States and in federal and state appellate courts around the country. He has experience across a broad array of industries and subject matter areas, at all stages of litigation. He regularly joins trials teams in the lead up to trial to assist with complex briefing, strategy, and preservation of issues for appellate review.

Law360 named Mr. Evanson one of five national appellate “Rising Stars” under 40 in 2018, Euromoney named him the 2018 “Best in Litigation: Appellate” under 40, and Benchmark Litigation included him on its “40 & Under Hot List.” He has for several years been listed in the appellate practice section of The Best Lawyers in America and as a “Southern California Super Lawyer.” Mr. Evanson is also a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Recent representative matters include:

• Persuading the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and then reverse an award of non-taxable expenses on behalf of a software support provider in a complex copyright infringement action.
• Representing film studios before the Supreme Court in a case involving the application of the laches defense to copyright infringement.
• Convincing the Ninth Circuit to reverse dismissal of an Equal Protection Clause challenge to California’s AB5 brought by two gig economy platform companies.
• Prevailing before the First and Ninth Circuits, and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, on the scope of the Section 1 exemption to the Federal Arbitration Act, on behalf of multiple gig economy platform companies.
• Obtaining a new trial on damages and reversal from the Federal Circuit on the eligibility of patent claims under Section 101, and then successfully opposing certiorari, in a case where a jury had awarded $533 million for patent infringement.
• Convincing the Ninth Circuit to affirm dismissal of a complaint against a technology company asserting claims under the Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act.
• Obtaining reversal from the Third Circuit of a $36 million judgment against an insurer based on the district court’s erroneous interpretation of an asbestos exclusion.
• Successfully compelling individual arbitration and opposing public injunctive relief in multiple cases on behalf of a rideshare platform company.
• Obtaining reversal from the Federal Circuit of a multi-million-dollar contempt sanction against a software company alleged to have infringed a competitor’s patents, and successfully opposing certiorari.
• Obtaining reversal from the Federal Circuit on the ineligibility of patents directed to a secure transaction system for untrusted computer networks, and successfully opposing certiorari.
• Obtaining reversal by the Fifth Circuit of an order denying a motion to compel arbitration, and interlocutory review and vacatur of an order certifying a nationwide ERISA class action.
• Obtaining reversal from the California Court of Appeal of a significant punitive damages award and a dramatic reduction in compensatory damages following a jury trial in a product liability suit, and successfully opposing review by the California Supreme Court.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Evanson served as a law clerk for Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He graduated from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar and a Senior Editor on the Columbia Law Review. And he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from Brigham Young University.

Mr. Evanson has taught advanced constitutional law courses at the Brigham Young University, University of Southern California, and University of California, Irvine law schools. He has served in leadership for several bar organizations, including Community Legal Aid SoCal, the appellate section of the Orange County Bar Association, the J. Reuben Clark Law Society, and the Federalist Society. He oversees the pro bono efforts of the firm’s Orange County office and maintains an active pro bono practice, representing clients in cases involving religious liberty, immigration, voting rights, and domestic violence.

Mr. Evanson is a member of the California bar, and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States; all thirteen Circuits of the United States Courts of Appeals; and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Eastern Districts of California.