Hueston Hennigan LLP

With approximately 90 lawyers in Southern California and New York, Hueston Hennigan is a litigation boutique and one of the go-to trial firms in the country. The firm prides itself in handling high-stakes litigation with an eye toward trial and has secured results in high-impact cases that are often historic.

It Only Took 24 Hours

In January 2015, John Hueston and Brian Hennigan broke off from Irell & Manella to form Hueston Hennigan LLP, hiring partners away from their former firm and similar, competitive firms. Within 24 hours, the firm employed more than 30 attorneys. Since then, Hueston Hennigan has rapidly established itself as a top litigation boutique.

Trial Regulars

Among Vault’s top 10 Litigation Specialty firms, Hueston Hennigan is a standout when it comes to trial work. The firm has received accolades from rankings organizations such as Chambers and the Legal 500 and has been acknowledged in legal publications such as Law 360, Benchmark Litigation, and The National Law Journal. Hueston Hennigan handles important litigation for high-profile clients, including Amazon, Epic Games, Boeing, Chevron, Walmart, Caltech, Deloitte, Edison International, Qualcomm, Disney, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Monster Energy, the Navajo Nation, and many others. 

Its litigators work in nearly 25 practice areas, including antitrust, appellate, commercial litigation, consumer fraud healthcare, securities, trade secrets, and white collar. Hueston Hennigan’s approach, which the firm describes as a “disruptive strategy,” is markedly different from that of many other law firms. At Hueston Hennigan, every case is treated as though it will go to trial, with lawyers trained to think like outside general counsel. The firm works both as plaintiffs’ counsel, achieving settlements in the billions, and as defendants’ counsel, representing clients from Fortune 500 companies to individual clients. Recent successes include securing over $500 million in trial awards for Monster Energy—consisting of the largest-ever Lanham Act award and among the largest-ever trademark awards—in two separate cases against rival VPX; obtaining over $300 million for Match Group in an antitrust case against Google; and landing a complete defense verdict for Disney in a high-profile suit brought by an animator who alleged Disney infringed his similar project to develop the blockbuster film, Moana.

Talented Bunch

Hueston Hennigan lawyers’ resumes shine. The firm recruits from top law schools and looks favorably on clerks. Nearly 75% of the associates at Hueston Hennigan have clerked for judges in federal district courts, courts of appeals, or highest state courts. The firm’s lawyers have extensive experience, collectively participating in hundreds of trials to date, boasting recent wins for Disney, Epic Games, Boeing, Amazon and Monster Energy.

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• Hueston Hennigan is a trial-focused firm representing a broad array of clients including Amazon, Boeing, Caltech, Disney, McDonald’s, Navajo Nation, Monster Energy, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Edison International, Twitch, Freedom for Immigrants, etc.
• Won a “record-setting” $293 million verdict—the largest Lanham Act award ever—for Monster Energy Company against rival beverage company Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in a false advertising, tortious interference, and trade secret case after a monthlong trial.
• Secured more than $40 million in payments to date from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and private parties for the Navajo Nation in connection with the unprecedented Gold King Mine disaster.
• Founded and fully fund the Social Justice Legal Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing social justice through trial litigation, and to training the next generation of lawyers to commit themselves to the fight for civil rights.
• Won a “landmark” opioid trial for Endo Pharmaceuticals in a closely watched $50 billion California case alleging public nuisance, unfair competition, and false advertising.