Bradley J. Hamburger is a litigation partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  His practice focuses on class actions and complex litigation in both trial courts and on appeal.  He is a member of the firm’s Class Actions, Appellate and Constitutional Law, and Labor and Employment practice groups.

Mr. Hamburger has represented clients in class actions across many substantive areas of law, including employment, consumer fraud, products liability, and antitrust.  He has special expertise in seeking interlocutory appellate review of class certification orders under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f), and has successfully obtained review of significant class certification rulings for multiple clients.  He also has substantial experience defending clients against representative actions under California’s Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act.

Mr. Hamburger has also represented clients in a wide range of appellate matters in both state and federal courts around the country, including appeals involving employment law, complex commercial disputes, products liability, legal malpractice and professional liability, arbitration, punitive damages, and patent law.  He has briefed over two dozen appeals, and has argued before both the Ninth Circuit and the California Court of Appeal.

Mr. Hamburger was a key member of both the trial and appeal teams in Chevron’s successful RICO action against a U.S. lawyer who fraudulently procured a multi-billion-dollar judgment against Chevron from an Ecuadorian court.  After a seven-week bench trial in the Southern District of New York, the trial judge issued a 485-page decision in Chevron’s favor, the Second Circuit affirmed in full, and the Supreme Court denied certiorari.  See Chevron Corp. v. Donziger, 974 F. Supp. 2d 362 (S.D.N.Y. 2014), aff’d, 833 F.3d 74 (2d Cir. 2016), cert. denied, 137 S. Ct. 2268 (2017).

Representative Matters

• Obtained affirmance from the Ninth Circuit of orders denying class certification and granting summary judgment in products liability action against automobile manufacturer.
• Secured a new trial in a dispute with former motor vehicle franchisee after a jury had awarded $256 million.
• Obtained a new trial on damages in a case where a jury had awarded $533 million for patent infringement, and then on appeal convinced the Federal Circuit that the patent claims at issue were not eligible under Section 101.
• Persuaded the California Supreme Court to grant review in an appeal involving the enforceability of arbitration agreements and the waiver of attorney-client conflicts of interests.
• Representing client before the California Supreme Court in a significant employment case.
• Defeated attempt to remand to state court a putative wage-and-hour class action after removal under the Class Action Fairness Act.
• Obtained voluntary dismissal of a long-running consumer fraud class action against a cosmetics company.
• Secured dismissal with prejudice of a complaint against a cable company that sought over $20 billion in damages based on allegations of race discrimination.
• Representing major retailer in enforcement action brought by the Los Angeles City Attorney under California’s Unfair Competition and False Advertising Laws.

Mr. Hamburger’s publications include Article III Standing and Absent Class Members, 64 Emory L.J. 383 (2015) (with Theane Evangelis), and Three Myths About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 82 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 45 (2014) (with Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr.).  He also co-authored two chapters in the Second Edition of the American Bar Association’s A Practitioner’s Guide to Class Actions (2017).

Mr. Hamburger graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2009.  While at Harvard he served as co-Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology and was a member of the Board of Student Advisers.  He graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Hamburger served as a law clerk to the Honorable James V. Selna in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before entering law school, Mr. Hamburger taught middle school mathematics in New York City as a Teach for America corps member.