The following is an excerpt from Practice Perspectives: Vault's Guide to Legal Practice Areas.
Esteban Rodriguez is an accomplished litigator whose diverse practice focuses on defending companies in complex mass tort cases, consumer class actions, commercial litigation, and lawsuits brought by government entities. A home-grown attorney, Esteban has been a critical member of O’Melveny teams handling some of the most complex and high-profile cases of the past decade. Esteban’s expertise includes defending companies against allegations of product liability, false advertising, unfair competition, public nuisance, and consumer fraud. Esteban has litigated these matters for clients across a broad spectrum of industries, including consumer products, life sciences, healthcare, financial services, sports, and entertainment. A fluent Spanish speaker, Esteban also has substantial experience advising and representing companies in cross-border litigation and investigations. Esteban devotes significant time to immigration-related pro bono matters. Esteban also serves on the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Board of Trustees and the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) Board of Governors. Esteban is also Regional Governor for HNBA’s Region XVIII (Southern California), and serves on the Board of Directors of ScholarMatch, an organization that assists first-generation college students in achieving affordable higher education.
Describe your practice area and what it entails.
I focus on consumer class actions, product liability, and mass tort litigation. My practice involves defending a wide range of companies—many of which manufacture, sell, or market consumer products—facing allegations of false advertising, unfair competition, or consumer fraud.
What types of clients do you represent?
Over my 15-year career, I’ve represented companies across a broad spectrum of industries, including companies in the food and beverage sector, apparel companies, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare companies, fintech companies, and sports and entertainment companies.
What types of cases do you work on?
Typically, I work on mass torts or class actions brought on behalf of a putative class of consumers. One example is our representation of boxing promoter Top Rank, boxer Manny Pacquiao, and broadcasters in litigation after Pacquiao fought Floyd Mayweather. The plaintiffs’ attorneys filed close to 50 class actions in over a dozen states across the country, essentially demanding refunds because they were not satisfied with how the fight unfolded. We ended up creating a multidistrict litigation (MDL) to coordinate pretrial litigation, through which we secured the dismissal with prejudice of all cases and defended the dismissal on appeal before the Ninth Circuit. This litigation is pretty representative of the type of cases I work on, namely, its high-profile nature and procedural complexities. In many of my matters, we defend companies facing litigation or investigations brought by state attorneys general, who have broad authority to bring claims against companies based on allegations of false advertising and consumer fraud.
How did you choose this practice area?
What initially drew me to this area is that I really liked Civil Procedure in law school. I like figuring out thorny procedural issues, and in consumer class actions and mass tort litigation, you’re often dealing with dozens, hundreds, sometimes thousands of cases. Aside from the factual disputes and the legal questions at issue, you also have the challenge of simultaneously litigating all those cases on behalf of a client. I’ve enjoyed the process of coming up with a plan that allows you to efficiently represent a company facing that many cases.
The second thing that drew me was the early writing opportunities. When you’re dealing with that volume of cases, it’s often all hands on deck. I found that I was getting a lot more writing opportunities working on this type of litigation.
What is a “typical” day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?
Our firm often represents companies that are facing cases that are not only high-exposure but also high-profile. Because of that, these cases tend to draw the attention of the company’s senior executives. You’re often not just helping a client with a motion to dismiss or with discovery but also helping them navigate the big picture and, therefore, ask, “How are we going to litigate this in the court of public opinion?” You’re helping the client think through how the position that it is going to take in a case might impact its business more broadly. Counseling my clients on issues like these is something I’ve really enjoyed doing.
What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?
I would emphasize writing. When I became an associate, I did not fully appreciate just how critical it is to be a great writer. And it’s something that you never stop learning to do. You can continue to get better at it no matter how senior you are. I think that the earlier you start with courses that allow you to work on your own writing and to read great writing, the better. Anything that helps you become a better legal writer is far and away the best use of your time in law school.
What do you like best about your practice area?
I like that there is so much variety in terms of the industries we work with. My practice gives me the opportunity to get familiar with a company and the products that it sells, and I have an opportunity to tell the story behind a product to a court or jury. I find that enjoyable, especially when you’re working with clients in so many different industries because you have the opportunity to keep learning something different.
What is unique about your practice area at your firm?
O’Melveny’s product liability and mass torts practice group is known for litigating and trying massive, high-profile cases that involve novel legal questions. Major companies turn to us for their most pressing matters in this area, and our track record successfully representing them at the trial court level and on appeal is what sets us apart.
What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area?
I mentioned early writing opportunities, and this practice can provide other early opportunities for the same reason. I took depositions pretty early in my career by working on mass torts and coordinated product liability proceedings. This type of litigation also gives you the opportunity to think critically about not just the factual disputes that you have in any lawsuit but also bigger questions, like how do we manage this case? How do we come up with a proposal for the client and for the court to efficiently and effectively manage litigating hundreds, if not more, cases that are on a court docket?
How do you see this practice area evolving in the future?
The number of mass arbitrations has been increasing, and mass arbitrations are closely related to class actions. I think in the next few years, we’re going to see more court challenges to mass arbitrations, and more courts ruling on when mass arbitrations are appropriate and what kinds of challenges companies can make. There’s also been a lot of discussion about civil justice reforms for MDLs. There have been some recent amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure meant to address MDLs. These rules are likely only the beginning. Finally, I would point to the impact of AI. Companies are using AI in products like cars, as just one example. As more AI applications are developed, there are going to be thorny questions around what AI means for the purposes of product liability.