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Profile Picture

Julian W. Poon

Julian
Poon

Partner

CONTACT INFO

jpoon@gibsondunn.com

TEL:+1 213.229.7758

FAX:+1 213.229.6758

Los Angeles

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

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PRACTICE

Appellate and Constitutional Law Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Class Actions Crisis Management Energy Energy, Regulation and Litigation Insurance and Reinsurance Labor and Employment Litigation Transnational Litigation

BIOGRAPHY

Julian W. Poon is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson Dunn, and co-chair of the firm’s nationwide Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group.

He is a seasoned appellate and trial-court advocate who appears regularly before federal and state appellate courts in California, including the Ninth Circuit, the California Supreme Court, and the California Court of Appeal, as well as other state and federal appellate and trial courts around the nation.  Mr. Poon is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, which consists of approximately 100 members.  Since 2012, Mr. Poon has been repeatedly re-appointed by the Chief Justice of California to serve on the Judicial Council’s Advisory Committee on Civil Jury Instructions.  Chambers, a publication that identifies and ranks the most outstanding lawyers, has ranked Mr. Poon over the past several years for Appellate – Litigation, describing him as “an incredibly smart lawyer” with “a commanding level of knowledge and experience in the California Court of Appeal,” a “highly analytical,” “extremely professional, [and] highly intelligent appellate practitioner” who “provides great guidance and sound advice as well as insight strategy on how to best position our case.”  He has also been recognized by BTI Client Service All-Stars as one of a select nationwide group of “attorneys delivering the best client service,” winning praise for his “creativity” and “great” “communication” in “offer[ing] alternative view points.” Benchmark Litigation has also recognized him as a “Litigation Star” for the past several years.

Mr. Poon has also been recognized in the Los Angeles Daily Journal’s annual Top Verdicts feature for winning Top Appellate Reversals in 2021, 2018, 2016, and 2014, for his accomplishments including persuading the Ninth Circuit to order entry of judgment against the plaintiff class on their nine-figure, wage-hour class action claims; securing the complete vacatur from the Ninth Circuit of a class action judgment and the decertification of a statewide class in a putative class action involving claims of fraud and unfair competition, after obtaining a 95% reduction from the Central District of California of a nearly half-a-billion-dollar verdict; securing the complete reversal by the California Court of Appeal of an eight-figure summary judgment and attorneys’ fee award, in a cross-border Hong Kong-U.S. dispute; obtaining a unanimous affirmance from the California Supreme Court on behalf of a major law firm in a malicious prosecution case; and persuading the Los Angeles Superior Court, on post-trial motions, to vacate a record-breaking verdict in excess of $178 million in a wrongful death action.

 

Other matters Mr. Poon has handled include:

  • Persuading the California Supreme Court to grant review of a case concerning the scope and nature of courts’ authority to impose monetary sanctions for discovery abuse.
  • Winning a precedential decision from the California Court of Appeal vindicating the First Amendment associational rights of an investor-owned utility against a powerful state public utilities regulator.
  • Prevailing, on cross-motions for summary judgment, in a nine-figure dispute with the City of San Diego regarding the relocation of electric and gas utility facilities.
  • Persuading the Los Angeles Superior Court, on post-trial motions, to order an 87% reduction of a nine-figure verdict, following a six-week wrongful-termination jury trial, cutting punitive damages by over $130 million.
  • Winning a nine-figure construction-law and attorneys’-fees dispute in the California Court of Appeal.
  • Obtaining an eight-figure victory from the California Court of Appeal for a public utility in a dispute with a public transportation agency.
  • Persuading the Los Angeles Superior Court and California Court of Appeal to dismiss, on personal jurisdiction grounds, a major indemnification dispute in California and Delaware.
  • Winning a precedent-setting decision from the California Court of Appeal concerning appellate cost awards.
  • Winning several False Claims Act appeals in the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits involving the for-profit education sector.
  • Securing a writ of mandate from the California Court of Appeal in a state-wide wage-and-hour class action involving insurance claims adjusters.
  • Obtaining a unanimous reversal from the California Supreme Court enforcing significant constitutional and statutory restrictions in a case involving the taxation of emission reduction credits.
  • Persuading the Central District of California to vacate a $14 million false-advertising verdict following a 2-week jury trial, and then persuading the Ninth Circuit to affirm.
  • Persuading the Ninth Circuit to reverse summary judgment and vacate an attorneys’-fees award in a breach-of-contract dispute involving a multi-state auto insurance business.
  • Winning a decision regarding the statute authorizing U.S. discovery in aid of foreign proceedings (28 U.S.C. § 1782) from the Fifth Circuit, and a string of related victories in the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Circuits.
  • Persuading the Ninth Circuit to grant interlocutory review, on the eve of trial, of a class-certification ruling in a major wage-and-hour class action.
  • Winning a patent-infringement dispute involving sports equipment in the Federal Circuit.
  • Winning a decision on loss causation from the Tenth Circuit.
  • Winning a case in the Arkansas Supreme Court regarding the disclosure obligations of corporate officers and directors.
  • Defeating a nationwide wage-and-hour class action without any discovery having been taken.
  • Defeating a state-wide wage-and-hour class action, again without any discovery.

 

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Poon served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States, and to Judge J. Michael Luttig, formerly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  Before that, Mr. Poon graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1999, receiving the Fay Diploma for placing first in his class.  He served as a Note Editor of the Harvard Law Review, and was awarded the Sears Prize during each of his first and second years of study for placing at the top of his class.  Mr. Poon also graduated with distinction and with honors, in Economics and in Public Policy, from Stanford University in 1996, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Mr. Poon is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in California, and is also a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, District of Columbia, and Federal Circuits, as well as the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

In addition to his earlier recognitions, Chambers has also recognized him as a Leading Lawyer in Labor & Employment, and he has also been recognized as a star by Law360 and US Legal 500, and by the Daily Journal in 2008, as one of the “Top 20 Under 40” lawyers in California, as well as by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association in 2011 as one of the “Best Lawyers Under 40” nationwide. He has consistently been named a “Southern California Super Lawyer” from 2014-2023, by Law and Politics and Los Angeles magazines.

EDUCATION

Harvard University - 1999 Juris Doctor

Stanford University - 1996 Bachelor of Arts

ADMISSIONS

California Bar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Firm News - May 3, 2022 | Julian W. Poon Inducted into the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers
Press Releases - April 13, 2022 | Gibson Dunn Appoints Thomas Dupree and Julian Poon to Join Allyson Ho as Co-Chairs of the Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group
Firm News - February 11, 2022 | Three Gibson Dunn Cases Named Top Verdicts of the Year 2021
Firm News - February 10, 2022 | Nine Partners Named 2022 BTI Client Service All-Stars
Client Alert - January 28, 2022 | California Supreme Court Adopts New Standard for Whistleblower Retaliation Claims
Client Alert - September 10, 2021 | California Supreme Court Reinforces Strong Presumption Against Liability for Companies Hiring Independent Contractors Based on Injuries to Contract Workers
Client Alert - August 21, 2020 | California Supreme Court Round-Up – August 2020
Client Alert - August 14, 2020 | California Supreme Court Announces 7-Factor “Good Cause” Test for Third-Party Subpoenas
Client Alert - July 1, 2020 | California Supreme Court Answers Critical Questions on Jurisdictional Scope of Certain Labor Laws and Minimum Wage Compliance for Employers Utilizing Non-Hourly Wage Units
Client Alert - June 26, 2020 | California Supreme Court Holds That District Attorneys May Seek Statewide Civil Penalties and Restitution Under Unfair Competition Law
Client Alert - May 1, 2020 | California Supreme Court Holds No Right to Jury Trial for Unfair-Competition or False-Advertising-Law Claims
Client Alert - April 6, 2020 | California Supreme Court Confirms That the Hague Service Convention Does Not Preempt Right of Parties to Contract for Their Preferred Method of Service
Client Alert - November 26, 2019 | California Supreme Court 2019 Round-Up
Client Alert - February 1, 2019 | California Supreme Court Winter 2019 Round-Up
Client Alert - May 31, 2018 | California Supreme Court Spring 2018 Round-Up
Client Alert - September 28, 2017 | California Supreme Court Fall 2017 Round-Up
Client Alert - November 21, 2016 | California Supreme Court Fall 2016 Round-Up
Client Alert - April 28, 2016 | California Supreme Court Spring 2016 Round-Up
Article - February 17, 2016 | One Clerk’s View of a Life Well-Lived
Client Alert - September 8, 2015 | California Supreme Court Mid-Year Round-Up (September 2015)
Article - October 24, 2014 | Emerging Issues in the Law of Class Certification
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 8, 2013 | 2013 Mid-Year FCPA Update
Article - December 14, 2012 | The “Next Wave” of Class Certification Issues
Client Alert - April 13, 2012 | California Supreme Court Hands Down Long-Anticipated Wage-and-Hour Class Action Decision in Brinker v. Superior Court
Client Alert - March 28, 2011 | Fourth Circuit Holds That Partial Disclosures Must Relate Back to Alleged Misrepresentations to Satisfy Loss Causation Requirement Under Federal Securities Laws
Article - February 1, 2011 | Class Distinctions
Article - September 1, 2010 | Aggregation or Stacking of Penalties or Punitive Measures
Client Alert - March 29, 2010 | U.S. Department of Labor Attempts to Alter Overtime Requirements for Certain Financial Industry Employees Through Novel Use of “Administrator’s Interpretation,” Rather Than Through Ordinary Rulemaking or An Opinion Letter
Client Alert - July 14, 2009 | Ninth Circuit Issues A Trilogy Of Decisions That May Significantly Enhance Defendants’ Ability To Contest Class Certification And Liability
Client Alert - May 4, 2009 | Tenth Circuit Clarifies Loss Causation Burden
Article - March 31, 2009 | Interlocutory Appellate Review of Class-Certification Rulings under Rule 23(f): Do Articulated Standards Matter?
Client Alert - March 31, 2009 | Tenth Circuit Rules on Loss Causation
Client Alert - February 26, 2009 | Must Employers Include Meal-Period Premium Payments in the “Regular Rate” Used to Compute the Overtime Owed to Their Employees?
Client Alert - February 19, 2009 | Tenth Circuit Issues Opinion Providing Robust Analysis of the Loss Causation Burden Under Federal Securities Laws
Client Alert - June 26, 2008 | U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision Limits the Amount of Punitive Damages Available under Federal Common Law and Comments on Due Process Limitations on Punitive Damages in Class Actions
Client Alert - February 10, 2008 | Supreme Court Reaffirms Narrow Scope of Primary Liability Under Section 10(b): Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific Atlanta, Inc.: The Supreme Court Rejects “Scheme” Liability, Insights, Vol. 22, No. 1
Client Alert - January 15, 2008 | U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision Today Limits the Scope of Private Rights of Action Under the Federal Securities Laws
Client Alert - May 25, 2006 | Client Caution: Settlement Discussions and Documents May Not Be Protected from Future Discovery
Client Alert - March 2, 2006 | U.S. Supreme Court Issues Landmark Ruling Abrogating Its Decades-Old Presumption that Antitrust Market Power Arises From the Mere Ownership of IP Rights
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