Gibson Dunn

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With more than 2,200 attorneys across 10 countries, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher is a force. Among the top firms in the country, Gibson Dunn is well-known for its litigation and trial work—especially its bustling appellate litigation and securities litigation practices—as well as its top-notch antitrust, M&A, business restructuring and reorganization, white collar, transnational, private equity, tax, and real estate work.

Tinseltown and Beyond

Gibson Dunn was formed through a partnership between John Bicknell and Walter Trask in 1890. Seven years later, Judge James Gibson joined the firm. The trio joined forces with William Dunn, a former Los Angeles city attorney, and Albert Crutcher, a former assistant city attorney, to create the largest law firm in Los Angeles at the time. During the 20th century, the firm expanded to the East Coast, Europe, and Asia, and while it still has five offices in California, Gibson Dunn is truly a global firm with 21 offices around the world.

Litigation Hat Trick—Plus One

Gibson Dunn is perhaps best known for its litigation practice. In fact, the firm has been named four times as the Litigation Department of the Year by The American Lawyer, in 2010, 2012, 2016, and 2020, and was a finalist in this biennial competition in 2014, 2018, and 2022. The firm sits comfortably atop its perch as a top five firm for litigation in Vault’s rankings. Gibson Dunn’s litigation subpractices are vast and include antitrust; betting and gaming; False Claim Act/qui tam; intellectual property; Foreign Corruption Practices Act; environmental law; government contracts; labor and employment; securities litigation; and white collar defense and investigations.

Notably, one practice sets Gibson Dunn apart: appellate litigation. The firm was the long-term reigning No. 1 firm in Vault’s Appellate Litigation rankings and continues to sit near the top of these rankings. Some of the firm’s notable U.S. Supreme Court cases are Perry v. Brown, in which firm partner Ted Olson delivered arguments in favor of overturning Proposition 8; Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, in which the Supreme Court held that corporations have a First Amendment right to engage in political speech; and Wal-Mart v. Dukes, in which the Supreme Court, in what many consider to be the most important class action opinion in a decade, unanimously reversed the Ninth Circuit’s certification of the biggest employment discrimination case in history.

Gibson Dunn isn’t only about litigation, however. The firm is among the top 20 firms in Vault’s General Corporate Practice rankings. In recent years, Gibson Dunn lawyers advised MetroPCS, T-Mobile, and Citigroup on billion-dollar mergers. The firm’s corporate transactions practice encompasses several practice groups, including capital markets, global finance, M&A, private equity, and securities regulation and corporate governance. The firm also consistently ranks highly for its real estate and other practices, reaching a No. 1 Vault ranking nationwide for Real Estate.

• Won historic marriage equality victory before SCOTUS, whose Hollingsworth v. Perry decision left intact the district court’s broad injunction against the enforcement of California’s Proposition 8. 
• Won a complete victory at summary judgment defending OpenAI in the first-ever defamation case arising from generative AI output, defeating allegations that a so-called ChatGPT hallucination was defamatory. 
• Represented SpaceX in its $17 billion acquisition of EchoStar’s full portfolio of AWS-4 and H-block 50-MHz spectrum licenses and their subsequent acquisition of unpaired AWS-3 spectrum licenses from EchoStar for $2.6 billion.
• Advised on a joint venture between Fontainebleau Development and Koch Real Estate Investments for securing a $2.2 billion construction loan to complete Fontainebleau Las Vegas, a 67-story hotel, gaming, and entertainment.

• Firm of the Year, seven Practice Groups of the Year (Appellate, Employment, Energy, Intellectual Property, Life Sciences, Media & Entertainment, and Telecommunications), 2025—Law360
• A-List (ranked No. 5); Litigation Department of the Year, Intellectual Property; Texas Litigation Department of the Year, 2025—The American Lawyer
• 425 rankings, including 43 first-tier firm practice group rankings and 87 first-tier individual lawyer rankings, Chambers USA; 93 firm practice rankings and 148 individual rankings, Chambers Global; top-tier rankings in Antitrust, Appellate, Artificial Intelligence, Corporate Investigations (the Elite), Energy—O&G, FCA, FCPA, IP—Trade Secrets, Law Firm Defense, Outsourcing, Product Liability, Privacy & Data Security, Projects—PPP, Real Estate, Securities (regulation and litigation), and many regional rankings, 2025—Chambers
• Recognized as one of the Most Innovative Law Firms, Most Innovative Firm for AI Strategy and in Disputes and Litigation for precedent-setting win in an OpenAI defamation suit, 2025—Financial Times