Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP has been cultivating the persona of an eccentric genius—shocking the often-staid (i.e., uptight) legal world with its unorthodox approach while impressing it with sweeping successes in the courtroom. This global litigation firm has always had its own style: Partners wear flip-flops, many cases are litigated through an in-house mock trial system before they go to trial, and the firm eschews work from Wall Street banks because it can earn more by suing large financial institutions than by catering to them. Importantly, Quinn Emanuel tries lots of cases and walks away with a win more times than not (86%). Not content with only a high rate of success, Quinn Emanuel also likes to go big, with 4 ten-figure jury verdicts, 7 nine-figure jury verdicts, 51 nine-figure settlements, and 19 ten-figure settlements. It’s no wonder the firm has one of the highest profits per partner among law firms.

Young but Mighty

Founded in 1986, Quinn Emanuel is younger than many of its associates, and dealing with legal youth is the specialty of Appellate Chair Kathleen Sullivan, who previously served as Dean of Stanford Law School. Quinn Emanuel is now firmly established as the go-to counsel for some of the biggest and most difficult litigation matters. The firm represents many of the world’s leading companies, including IBM, Google, Cisco, Fédération Internationale de Football Association, Qualcomm, Daimler, Sony, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Sony, Hyundai, AIG, and Samsung.

Globally, Quinn Emanuel has exported its litigation-only model to 29 offices in 11 countries outside the United States. Since 2020, the firm has added offices in Austin, Doha, Riyadh, Atlanta, Neuilly La-Defense, Miami, Berlin, and Houston.

Trial Lawyers

The No. 1 firm in Vault’s General Commercial Litigation category, Quinn Emanuel’s litigation experience is broad. The firm advises on antitrust, appellate, bankruptcy, corporate disputes, environmental, insurance, intellectual property, international matters, life sciences, media and entertainment, products liability, and other matters. Its largest practice is intellectual property, and more than 100 lawyers at the firm hold degrees in hard sciences or engineering. The firm’s mass torts practice is widely recognized, and its lawyers have been involved in notable matters such as the Fukushima nuclear accident, BP oil spill, and 9/11 terrorist attacks. The firm also boasts a notable appellate practice with extensive experience before the Supreme Court, federal courts of appeal, and state appellate courts.

Reaching the Summit

Some firms treat their attorneys to dinners or tickets to a game. Quinn takes its crew hiking—and we’re not talking about a local trail in the firm’s backyard. Associates and partners pack their bags and head to locations around the world. Past locations have included Interlaken in Switzerland; the Dolomites in Italy; Taos in New Mexico; the Talkeetna Mountains in Alaska; The Laugavegur Trail in Iceland; and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

• In re Tesla Inc. Securities Litigation: Won defense verdict in a multibillion securities trial related to Elon Musk’s 2018 tweets that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private, with the jury finding Musk and Tesla not liable for investor losses. The victory was particularly remarkable in that the court had instructed the jury that the tweets were false and recklessly made, and that the jury’s task was to determine only whether the false representations were “material” and, if so, the amount of damages.

   

• LIV Golf, Inc.; LIV Golf players: Co-lead counsel for LIV Golf, Inc. and certain professional golfers in an antitrust action against PGA Tour, Inc., based on its unlawful monopolization or attempted monopolization of the market for the services of professional golfers for elite golf events and the market for the promotion of elite professional golf events; its unlawful agreement with the European Tour to eliminate competition in the markets; its breach of its contracts with the player plaintiffs; and its interference with LIV Golf’s contractual and prospective business relationships.

   

• In re UK Supreme Court for Ukraine: Won $2 billion action, acting on behalf of Ukraine (instructed by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine) in bringing inter-state proceedings against the Russian Federation before the European Court of Human Rights. These proceedings represent one of the largest and most significant inter-state cases brought before the European Court.

• In re Foundational CRISPR-Cas9 Patents: Win in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proceeding relating to priority of discovery of CRISPR CAS9 intellectual property technology on behalf of The Broad Institute against the Nobel Prize winners. A three-judge PTAB panel issued an opinion and judgment confirming Broad’s entitlement to foundational patents directed to the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in eukaryotic cells (including humans, other mammals, and plants).

• “BTI Client Service A-Team” in BTI Client Service 100, 2024 & 2023 — BTI Consulting Group
• “Litigation Department of the Year”, 2023 — The American Lawyer
• “Pro Bono Initiative of the Year” Shortlist, 2023 — The Lawyer Awards
• “Fearsome Foursome” list, 2022—BTI Consulting Group
• “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality,” 2022—Human Rights Campaign Foundation