Julian W. Kleinbrodt

Julian W. Kleinbrodt is a partner in the San Francisco office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and is a member of the Antitrust and Competition and Labor and Employment Practice Groups.

Julian handles a wide variety of antitrust matters through trial and appeal. He has particular experience with claims involving price-fixing, monopolization, attempted monopolization, refusals to deal, tying, bundling, exclusive dealing, disparagement, market allocation and division, and no-poach provisions. Julian has obtained dismissals on the pleadings of major putative antitrust class actions, won denial of class certification in sweeping nationwide cases, and prevailed at trial and after trial on behalf of multiple clients. He also has experience representing clients in civil and criminal investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, and regularly counsels clients on antitrust compliance.

A frequent author and thought leader in the antitrust community, Julian’s work has been recognized on the Daily Journal’s “Top Verdicts” lists year after year. Most recently, Julian was recognized as one of Law360’s Rising Stars in Competition for 2024 and Global Competition Reivew has named Julian to its 2024 40 Under 40 list, which honors the “next generation of leading antitrust practitioners."

Julian’s nationwide labor and employment practice focuses on discrimination and class action claims.

Representative Antitrust and Competition Experience

• Prevailed on behalf of a technology company in a historic multi-week bench trial, defeating Section 1, Section 2, and state antitrust claims.
• Prevailed on behalf of a technology company in multiple federal appeals, including successfully arguing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case brought by a software developer seeking billions in damages.
• Won summary judgment on behalf of a technology company, defeating billion-dollar claims under the Sherman Act and state law.
• Secured denial of class certification and first-of-its-kind judgment no-poach antitrust litigation on behalf of an American multinational franchisor.
• Achieved dismissal of antitrust lawsuits accusing on-campus bookstore chains and college textbook publishers of conspiring to eliminate competition and raise prices by using agreements to sell course materials online.
• Set aside multi-million-dollar antitrust verdict due to fraud, and, following a successful appeal, obtained a multi-million-dollar sanction in a Section 2 case.
• Obtained full defense verdict at trial in a Section 1 price-fixing case against a food manufacturer.

Representative Labor and Employment Experience

• Secured denial of class certification on behalf of UPS in a putative state-wide class action of Kentucky workers alleging disability discrimination and then secured affirmance of that order on appeal, Hughes v. UPS Supply Chain Sols., Inc., 2021 WL 3008755 (Ky. Ct. App. July 16, 2021).

• Defending an American multinational automobile manufacturer against threatened and pending litigation over ADA accessibility on its websites.
• Advising an American multinational automobile manufacturer on its diversity and inclusion policies in the wake of increased legal challenges and scrutiny following the June 2023 Supreme Court rulings restricting affirmative action programs.

Julian received his law degree magna cum laude from the University of Michigan School of Law in 2014, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served on the Michigan Law Review’s editorial board. Before joining the firm, Julian served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stephen V. Wilson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2011 and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.