John M. Pierce
O: (213) 375-3310
C: (818) 918-8328
jpierce@piercebainbridge.com
John M. Pierce is a trial lawyer and Global Managing Partner of
Pierce Bainbridge P.C. He was described by Benchmark Plaintiff Litigation 2012 as "one of the most esteemed jury trial lawyers" at the world's largest business litigation law firm, and The Legal 500 United States 2015
praised his "real trial presence." In 2008, he won two multi-million
dollar jury verdicts within a span of two months, including the 67th
highest jury verdict in the United States in 2008 as determined by the VerdictSearch Top 100 list, as well as a victory in a major film financing trial in Los Angeles featured in The Hollywood Reporter.
A graduate of Harvard Law School, where he received the honor of serving as an editor of the highly prestigious Harvard Law Review,
John is often retained by major corporations and financial institutions
in the most difficult, high-profile bet-the-company business disputes.
He has successfully represented clients in complex disputes involving,
among others, hedge funds, private equity, structured finance, real
estate finance, financial fraud, insurance coverage, intellectual
property, legal malpractice, false advertising, First Amendment claims,
government contracts, and film financing.
John has played a managerial role in some of the most high-profile
complex commercial litigations in recent U.S. history, including Apple vs. Samsung, TCW vs. Gundlach, and Allergan vs. Valeant.
In the course of doing so, John has developed knowledge of best
practices regarding the discovery, review and management of
Electronically Stored Information and related litigation support
technology and practices in a complex commercial litigation setting. He
is also an experienced appellate advocate.
John has successfully handled contingent and alternative fee matters,
often working with third party litigation funders who assist individual
and corporate clients to finance large, meritorious plaintiff-side
claims. In addition, he has published an article in The Hedge Fund Journal on the emergence of third party litigation funding as an uncorrelated asset class for institutional investors.
On behalf of institutional clients and individuals suing as
plaintiffs, John has obtained verdicts, pre-trial judgments and
settlements amounting to more than $292 million. On behalf of corporate
defendants, he has obtained verdicts, pre-trial judgments, and
settlements successfully defending over a billion dollars in claims.
Prior to founding Pierce Bainbridge P.C., John
was a partner in commercial litigation at the #1 ranked commercial
litigation law firm in the United States, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &
Sullivan, LLP and was a partner in commercial litigation in the #1
ranked law firm overall in Southern California, Latham & Watkins
LLP. He also served as co-Global Practice Area Leader for Litigation
and Dispute Resolution at K&L; Gates LLP. He continues to serve as
outside General Counsel for the SGVC family of technology venture
capital funds.
Prior to law school, John was an M1A1 Abrams tank platoon leader in
the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. He attended
the Army’s Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia and participated in
two rotations at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.
In addition to his studies at Notre Dame and Harvard Law School, John
has taken courses on cyber security at Stanford University as well as
mergers and acquisitions at the University of Chicago's Booth Graduate
School of Business.