Gibson Dunn Launches Transnational Litigation and Foreign Judgments Practice Group

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Dec 15, 2010, 11:45 ET

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce the formation of its new Transnational Litigation and Foreign Judgments Practice Group, which focuses on defending multinational corporations against torts and other related claims originating from or involving non-U.S. jurisdictions. The multidisciplinary group will draw upon Gibson Dunn's extensive experience in foreign judgment recognition and enforcement, toxic tort, appellate, media, and international arbitration.

The Transnational Litigation and Foreign Judgments Practice Group will be led by Los Angeles partner Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., Century City partner Scott Edelman, Orange County partner Andrea Neuman and Los Angeles partner William Thomson. The practice group includes 27 lawyers located in offices throughout the firm.

"We formed this new Transnational Litigation and Foreign Judgments Practice Group to help our clients respond to the increasing threat to corporations posed by lawsuits filed in jurisdictions around the world," said Ken Doran, Chair and Managing Partner of Gibson Dunn. "The firm has recently been involved in a number of high-profile matters filed in or emanating from foreign jurisdictions. We created the group in order to better communicate our capability in this area and to formally bring together the skill sets these complex matters require."

"Whether the claims are tried initially in U.S. courts or in non-U.S. jurisdictions, the new group brings a uniquely skilled, creative, and experienced team to bear on cases posing enormous and complex risks for transnational corporations," Boutrous said. "These cases are often massive and multifaceted assaults that may involve fundamentally unfair, abusive or corrupt claims. We work with our clients to develop not just defensive tactics, but rather an affirmative strategy to ultimately end the litigation."

The Transnational Litigation and Foreign Judgments Practice Group has succeeded in assisting clients in a number high-profile matters brought by foreign plaintiffs in courts around the world and is widely seen as one of the preeminent leaders in this field.

The group currently represents Dole Food Company, Inc. and Chevron Corp. in numerous high-profile actions brought by foreign plaintiffs in courts throughout the United States and around the world. Gibson Dunn represents Chevron in its defense of environmental litigation concerning Ecuador, in which the plaintiffs seek billions of dollars in damages. Discovery proceedings conducted by Gibson Dunn have exposed extensive fraud and collusion by representatives of the plaintiffs and foreign government officials. In addition, Gibson Dunn transformed a high-risk toxic tort litigation against Dole into a headline-making victory when it took over the defense of a series of cases filed against Dole alleging that its use of the pesticide DBCP in Nicaragua in the 1970s caused sterility in alleged former farm workers. A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge threw out three high profile cases against Dole after Gibson Dunn lawyers established that the claims were the product of a conspiracy to defraud the court and were based on manufactured evidence from plaintiffs who had been trained to lie by their lawyers.

About the Firm

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is a leading international law firm. Consistently ranking among the world's top law firms in industry surveys and major publications, Gibson Dunn is distinctively positioned in today's global marketplace with more than 1,000 lawyers and 17 offices, including Brussels, Century City, Dallas, Denver, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Orange County, Palo Alto, Paris, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Singapore, and Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.gibsondunn.com.