The firm was founded in May 1890 by Republican corporate attorney John Bicknel and Democratic litigator Walter Trask. In 1897, Judge James Gibson joined the firm. Six years later, the firm merged with another law firm, belonging to former Los Angeles city attorney
William Ellsworth Dunn and assistant city attorney Albert Crutcher. The merger gave the firm its name, which it still uses today.[7]
In November 2023, amid a wave of
antisemitic incidents at elite U.S. law schools, Gibson Dunn was among a group of major law firms who sent a letter to top law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences. The letter said "We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses."[8]
Notable cases
The firm is best known for its litigation practice, which has been named the top "Litigation Department of the Year" in the United States by The American Lawyer in several biannual rankings, most recently in 2020.[9] The firm is also known for its land use and real estate practices.[10] The firm's attorneys have argued more than 100 cases before the
United States Supreme Court.[11]
Some of the firm's notable cases include:
The firm is representing
Chevron in its long-running, $27 billion environmental dispute in
Ecuador.[12][13] According to The Intercept, Gibson Dunn has hired private investigators to track
Steven Donziger and created "a team of hundreds of lawyers to fight him".[14] This resulted in a boycott launched in April 2021 by the student group Law Students for Climate Accountability.[14][15]
Gibson Dunn is also actively involved in homeless encampments-related cases.[16] In 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic, the firm represented West Side Community Organization (Westco), an organization that advocated for the relocation of
homeless persons from Upper West Side to a downtown hotel in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.[17] Randy Mastro, a partner of the firm who represented it, was criticized for taking up the lawsuit and his home was vandalized in protest in October 2020.[17]
In 2009,
Theodore B. Olson, a partner of the firm, successfully argued the case Citizens United v. FEC (2010) in its favor.[21] The verdict sanctioned businesses' limitless campaign spending, which promoted corruption and black money.[22]
The firm represented
Apple, Inc. in its patent infringement suit against
Samsung (Apple v. Samsung) relating to the
Galaxy Nexus smartphone, and won an injunction in June 2012 blocking the sale of the Galaxy Nexus phone in the United States.[23] The injunction was vacated in October 2012 based on the results of the trial.[24][25] It also represented Apple in
Epic Games v. Apple, a lawsuit related to Apple's practices in the
App Store and the removal of Fortnite from the App Store.[26]
The firm is defending
Intel against several multibillion-dollar antitrust lawsuits filed by
AMD and the
European Union.[28]
The firm is representing
CNN in its lawsuit against
President Trump and many of his staff on the basis of
Jim Acosta's right to a "hard pass", a clearance to enter the White House.[29]
The firm is representing the
Dole Food Company in a multibillion-dollar toxic tort suit in Nicaragua involving allegations of farmworker sterility stemming from Dole's use of certain pesticides. After the firm uncovered substantial evidence of fraud and a conspiracy between the plaintiffs and Nicaraguan judges to extort Dole out of billions with manufactured claims, courts in the United States dismissed multiple related suits against Dole and refused to enforce several Nicaraguan judgments.[30]
Governor
Chris Christie hired Gibson Dunn attorney Randy Mastro to conduct an internal investigation of the circumstances surrounding the
Fort Lee lane closure scandal and representing the Governor in a later federal investigation.[34] The firm was later criticized by U.S. District Judge
Susan Wigenton for its methods of record keeping, and accused the firm of "opacity and gamesmanship."[35]
Gibson Dunn provided advice to the private prosecutor responsible for conducting the criminal contempt case against
Steven Donziger. Since Gibson Dunn also acts for
Chevron, The Nation wrote that the collaboration raised issues of fairness.[36]
Gibson Dunn represented the plaintiffs in Haaland v. Brackeenpro bono in seeking to overturn the
Indian Child Welfare Act. This has led to accusations that Gibson Dunn is seeking to weaken federal protections for Native American tribes overall, opening the way for corporate exploitation of natural resources or
Native American gaming.[37]
The firm advised
Kraft in its $19.7 billion bid for
Cadbury.[40]
Gibson attorneys advised
Heineken in its $7.6 billion buyout of Mexican brewing conglomerate
FEMSA.[41]
The firm worked for
Harlan Crow amid a controversy over his extensive and undisclosed gift-giving to Supreme Court Clarence Thomas.[42]
Political contributions
According to
OpenSecrets, Gibson Dunn was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle, donating $1.45 million, 55% to Democrats.[43] Since 1990, Gibson Dunn contributed $6.15 million to federal campaigns.[44]
Controversies
In 2007, the
Montana Supreme Court found that Gibson Dunn "acted with actual malice"[45]: 88 [46] in suing an art expert Steve Seltzer, who said that a painting signed by
Charles Marion Russell was actually created by his grandfather Olaf Carl Seltzer, thus reducing its value. The Supreme Court said "GDC's use of the judicial system amounts to legal thuggery"[45]: 92 [46] and found that Gibson Dunn "blatantly and maliciously tried to intimidate Seltzer with the apparent power, prestige, and resources of a large, nationally prominent law firm coupled with an ominous lawsuit that they knew threatened to ruin and devastate him professionally, personally, and financially".[45]: 85–86
Gibson Dunn has been accused of unethical litigation tactics, and has been covered in the legal press for facing nearly one-million dollars in punitive sanction fees for facilitating discovery misconduct by Facebook.[47] Gibson Dunn, defending Facebook for its illegal disclosure of data to Cambridge Analytica, engaged in objective "bad faith" and continued to do so notwithstanding federal judge Vincent Chhabria's discussion that Gibson Dunn should behave more ethically.[47]
Gibson Dunn has been criticized for its pro bono representation in Haaland v. Brackeen seeking to overturn the
Indian Child Welfare Act.[48][49][50] Matthew McGill, a partner at the firm, argued that the Indian Child Welfare Act discriminates against non-Native people who wish to adopt Native children.[49][51] The
United States Supreme Court ultimately ruled against Gibson Dunn's clients 7-2, rejecting all of the challenges either on their merits or for lack of
standing.[52]
^"Our Story". Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
^Sorkin, Andrew Ross; Mattu, Ravi; Warner, Bernhard; Kessler, Sarah; Merced, Michael J. de la; Hirsch, Lauren; Livni, Ephrat (2 November 2023).
"Law Firms Warn Universities About Antisemitism on Campus". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 November 2023.