Perlette Michèle Jura

Partner

[email protected]
T: +1 213.229.7121
Los Angeles
Washington, D.C.

Perlette Jura is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. offices.  Her practice focuses on complex trial and appellate litigation.  She co-chairs the firm’s Transnational Litigation Group and its Environmental Social Governance practice.  She has played a key role in a number of the firm’s most high-profile matters.  Perlette has extensive experience working with the food and beverage, agricultural, aerospace, automotive, technology and energy industries. 

Perlette is named to Legal 500’s Hall of Fame for Transnational Litigation. She has been recognized on multiple occasions as a “Leader of Influence” among Litigators and Trial Attorneys, and as one of the “Most Influential Woman Lawyers” in Los Angeles by The Los Angeles Business Journal. She’s also recognized by Benchmark Litigation as one of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” and featured as a California “Litigation Star.” Lawdragon has recognized Perlette as one of the 500 Leading Litigators in America and worldwide, and as a member of the Lawdragon Green 500: Leaders in Environmental Law.  BTI Consulting Group honored her as a Client Service All-Star, an attorney “who stand[s] above all the others in delivering the absolute best in client service.”

Complex and Transnational Litigation.  As a co-chair of the firm’s Transnational Litigation Group, Perlette has extensive experience litigating and counseling on multidistrict and cross-border matters, including several mass and class action suits.  She has been recognized by Legal 500 as one of the top ten leading transnational litigation lawyers in the country and was placed in their hall of fame in 2022.  Perlette has played a critical role as a master strategist and team leader in several high-profile U.S. matters and transnational trials and appeals.  She is regularly relied upon by clients to help them develop comprehensive global strategies and has advised on matters implicating the competing laws of multiple U.S. jurisdictions and the laws of more than 50 countries around the world.  She also regularly advises on supply chain liability risks, and cross‑border compliance issues.

Environmental Social Governance Practice.  Much of Perlette’s cross-border work involves a wide variety of domestic and cross-border supply chain, human rights and tort disputes, including clients involved in manufacturing, food and beverage, agriculture and energy.  In addition to litigating these matters, she also provides counseling and advice on to a number of clients on a wide range of ESG issues.

Community and Firm Involvement.  In addition to serving as a practice group leader, Perlette is the firmwide hiring chair.  She also sits on the firm’s diversity committee.

Perlette served on the Board of Directors for the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, where she is a lifetime member.  She is likewise a member of the Women of Stanford Law and the Diversity Law Institute.

Perlette also dedicates substantial time to pro bono matters. During her time at the firm, Perlette has received the firm’s annual award for successfully litigating the firm’s Most Challenging Pro Bono Matter, served as a Military Commission Observer for the 9/11 proceedings in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and she has partnered with Lawyers Without Borders to help do important cross-border pro bono work.

Some of Perlette’s most recent non-confidential matters include:

  • Doe Meta Platforms, Inc.  (N.D.  Cal.) (securing dismissal of claims against Meta filed on behalf of Rohingya refugees seeking to apply Burmese law to sidestep Section 230 immunity).
  • Coubaly Cargill, Inc.  et al.  (D.D.C.) (securing dismissal of TVPRA claims against the cocoa industry arising out of alleged activity in Cote d’Ivoire).
  • Doe Apple, Inc.  et al.  (D.D.C.) (securing dismissal of TVPRA claims against major tech companies arising out of alleged human rights violations in the cobalt supply chain).
  • Ning Xianhua Oath Holdings, Inc.  et al.  (N.D.  Cal.) (securing dismissal with prejudice of ATS, TVPA, and California UCL claims arising out of alleged activity in the People’s Republic of China).
  • Nestlé USA, v.  Doe, 593 US __, 141 S.  Ct.  1931 (2021) (dismissing a long-running Alien Tort Statute lawsuit against Nestle USA on extraterritoriality grounds) (co-counsel).
  • Myers Starbucks Co., (C.D.  Cal.) (defending against consumer deception claims challenging statements regarding supplier and supply chain practices) (motion to dismiss granted without prejudice in July 2020).
  • Horti Nestlé Healthcare Nutrition, Inc.  (N.D.  Cal.) (securing dismissal with prejudice of consumer deception claims).
  • Council for Education and Research on Toxins Starbucks Corporation et al.  (successfully defeated Proposition 65 challenge to coffee industry, including an order affirming judgment on appeal and denial of plaintiff’s petition for certiorari).
  • Walker Nestlé USA, Inc., No.  3:19-cv-00723 (S.D.  Cal.) (defending against consumer deception claims challenging statements regarding supplier and supply chain practices) (ongoing).
  • You Japan, et al.  (successfully defending vehicle manufacturers in California against alien tort and RICO claims brought on behalf of a purported class of Korean citizens).
  • Worldwide Directories A.  de C.V.  v.  Yahoo! Inc.  (defeating a $2.7 billion cross-border RICO suit filed in New York arising out of alleged activity in Mexico).
  • Manspeaker Intel (defeating a series of lawsuits filed in Delaware and Arizona that involved complex choice of law and toxic tort issues).
  • Hupan Alliance One and related cases (securing dismissal of over 400 toxic tort claims brought on behalf of foreign farmers).
  • Chevron v.  Donziger (successfully defending litigation against a fraudulent multibillion dollar Ecuadorian judgment arising from alleged environmental pollution in Ecuador).
  • Tellez Dole Food Co.  (securing dismissal with prejudice of U.S.-filed toxic tort claims alleging that DBCP caused reproductive harm).
  • NML Capital, v.  Republic of Argentina (enforcing unpaid debts against the Republic of Argentina).
  • Osorio Dole Food Co.  (blocking recognition and enforcement of $97 million toxic tort judgment awarded by Nicaraguan court without due process or evidence of causation).

Recent Publications and Presentations

  • One Small Step or One Giant Leap? FAA Releases Final Rules on Commercial Drone Use in the United States (Client Alert, June 27, 2016) (contributing author).
  • Courts Make Doing Good Abroad Bad for Business At Home (Law360, January 14, 2016).
  • International Aspects of S. Litigation: Practitioner’s Deskbook (ABA, 2016) (contributing author).
  • Enforcement of Foreign Judgments 2015 in 29 Jurisdictions Worldwide, United States (Getting the Deal Through, September 2015) (contributing author).
  • Enforcing Arbitration Awards in California (Practical Law, 2015) (contributing author).
  • Disparate Treatment of the Corporate Citizen: Stark Differences Across Borders in Transnational Lawsuits (Business Law International, May 2014).
  • Economic Rising Stars in Latin America (Pacific Council on International Policy, 2014 Spring Conference).
  • Semiconductor Birth Defect Cases Keep Unraveling In Delaware (Law360, March 12, 2014).
  • Enforcement of Foreign Judgments 2014 in 29 Jurisdictions Worldwide (Getting the Deal Through, September 2013) (contributing author).
  • The Outer Limits of Expert Testimony Gatekeeping (Law360, March 13, 2013).
  • Successful Global Strategies for Litigating Cross-Border Disputes in the United States (ABA, 2012).
  • Legal Globetrotting II: Recognizing & Enforcing Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards (ABA, Miami 2012) (presentation for the American Bar Association, Section of International Law).
  • Enforcing Workers’ Compensation in Toxic Tort Birth Defects Cases (American College of Environmental Lawyers, 2012).
  • Confronting the New Breed of Transnational Litigation: Abusive Foreign Judgments (U.S.  Chamber of Commerce (PLI), 2011).
  • Unconstitutional Judgments for Import: Constitutional Limitations on Recognition and Enforcement of Abusive Foreign Judgments (Pepperdine Law Review, 2011).
  • Legal Globetrotting: Recognizing & Enforcing Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards (ABA, Dublin 2011) (presented for the American Bar Association, Section of International Law).
  • Forum Non Conveniens and Foreign-Judgment Recognition: Different Sides of Different Coins (Defense Research Institute, 2011).
  • Transnational Litigation and Foreign Judgments: Litigating Recognition and Enforcement Actions in the United States and Developing a Successful Global Strategy (ABA, 2011).
  • A New Transnational Battleground (presented for the Los Angeles County Bar Association in Los Angeles, October 2010).

Education & Background.  Before joining the firm, Perlette served as a law clerk to the Honorable Pamela Ann Rymer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Perlette graduated Order of the Coif from Stanford Law School.  She was an Executive Editor of Stanford Law Review and received the Board of Editors Award.  Perlette was also the Student Director of the Stanford Community Law Clinic, and a graduate advisor and teacher.  During her time at Stanford, she was awarded the Public Interest and Pro Bono Service Award and a Stanford Law School Fellowship.  Perlette graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she was the Commencement Speaker at the Fine Arts & Humanities ceremony.

Perlette is a Fellow with the Litigation Counsel of America.  She is licensed to practice in California, the District of Columbia and New York.  She is admitted to appear before the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits, in addition to the Northern, Southern and Central Districts of California, the Northern District of Illinois and the Southern District of New York.  She is a member of the International Bar Association, the American Bar Association’s Transnational Legal Practice Committee, and the Association’s International Courts Committee and the International Litigation Committee.

Capabilities

Credentials

Education:
  • Stanford University - Juris Doctor
  • University of California, Santa Barbara - Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
  • California Bar
  • District of Columbia Bar
  • New York Bar
Clerkships:
  • US Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, Hon. Pamela Ann Rymer, 2004 - 2005

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