Biography

Christopher Wheeler litigates high-stakes, complex civil matters, with a focus on antitrust and other business disputes.

In his antitrust practice, Chris has represented plaintiffs and defendants in class and competitor cases. In the antitrust class action against Sutter Health, a case that Sutter maintained “implicat[ed] California’s entire healthcare industry,” he led the Farella team that, along with the California Attorney General and co-counsel, obtained a $575,000,000 settlement and historic injunctive relief on behalf of a certified class of California employers, government entities, and union trusts. The settlement represents the largest all-cash settlement in the history of California state court. As Harvard Business School Professor Leemore Dafny stated in the Los Angeles Times: “This settlement has provided a marker for the rest of the nation.”  Chris has been named a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year by the Daily Journal and he has received the American Antitrust Institute’s Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice award.

State attorneys general across the nation have recognized Chris’s antitrust expertise, retaining him in connection with both merger and conduct cases. The Rhode Island Attorney General retained Chris to lead the antitrust investigation of the $4 billion merger between the two largest health systems in Rhode Island. Following the Attorney General’s administrative decision denying the merger, the transacting parties abandoned the proposed transaction.

Chris brings a background in economics and market regulation to his antitrust and complex litigation practice. During the U.S. financial crisis, he served as vice president and deputy director of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, where he led one of the first investigations into the regulatory failures contributing to the crisis. Chris began his career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Chris’s trial experience is varied. He successfully defended a leading Silicon Valley company in a patent license arbitration against a competitor—backed by one of the world’s largest private equity firms—that was seeking tens of millions of dollars in unpaid royalties. Following three years of litigation and an evidentiary hearing lasting 25 days, the arbitrator sanctioned the competitor for more than it recovered in unpaid royalties. Chris also has prosecuted and tried to verdict a number of criminal cases as a “loaner” Assistant District Attorney in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

As a participant in the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Federal Pro Bono Project, Chris maintains an active pro bono practice. He has represented an indigent family in an unlawful detainer action, a victim of elder abuse, and a family-run business in an ERISA action. Chris also has won political asylum for refugee families, including a Laotian Hmong veteran of the CIA “secret army” and his wife and three generations of survivors of the Liberian civil war.

Chris is a member of the Executive Committee of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Section of the California Lawyers Association and serves as executive editor of the California Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law treatise. He is vice chair of the Antitrust and Business Regulation Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Chris serves on the Executive Committee of the Harvard Law School Association and is a past president of the Harvard Law School Association of Northern California. At Farella, he serves on the New Business and Partnership Admissions committees.

Distinctions

  • California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Award, Daily Journal (2022)

Memberships and Affiliations

  • Member, Executive Committee, Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section, California Lawyers Association
  • Vice Chair, Antitrust and Business Regulation Section, Bar Association of San Francisco (2023)
  • Member, Executive Committee, Antitrust and Business Regulation Section, Bar Association of San Francisco
  • Member, Executive Committee, Harvard Law School Association
  • Immediate Past President, Harvard Law School Association of Northern California
  • Member, Antitrust Practice Group, American Health Law Association
  • Member, Antitrust Law Section, American Bar Association
  • Member, Litigation Section Executive Committee, Bar Association of San Francisco (2016-2017)

Firm Highlights

News

Big Tech Breathes Sigh of Relief After Justices' Terror Rulings

Erik Olson spoke to Law360 for the article "Big Tech Breathes Sigh of Relief After Justices' Terror Rulings," covering the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to review whether Section 230 insulates online platforms from...

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Publication

Office-to-Housing Conversion: State and Local Efforts to Revitalize the Downtown

Originally published in The Registry . As office vacancies soar in traditional downtown areas like San Francisco’s Financial District, state and local officials are moving quickly to adopt incentives they hope will bring people...

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News

Legal experts say Google, Twitter and other tech companies dodged a bullet at the Supreme Court

Erik Olson spoke to Silicon Valley Business Journal for the article "Legal experts say Google, Twitter and other tech companies dodged a bullet at the Supreme Court." The Supreme Court avoided taking a stand...

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Event

Bisnow: San Francisco State of the Market

At Bisnow's San Francisco State of the Market event, Ashley Breakfield will moderate the panel "Revitalizing San Francisco: Reconfiguring the city for a hybrid world, reimagining downtown, and uplifting the economy." Click  here  for more information and to...

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Publication

Uncorking Accessibility: How Winery Websites Can Meet ADA Compliance Standards

Vanessa Ing and Kelsey Mollura discuss "Uncorking Accessibility: How Winery Websites Can Meet ADA Compliance Standards." The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities...

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Publication

Nonprofit Basics: Meeting Minutes Best Practices

Welcome to  EO Radio Show – Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . This episode focuses on documenting decisions made at meetings of a nonprofit organization's board of directors or trustees. While everyone who attends a...

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Publication

Nonprofit Basics: Federal Tax Filing Deadlines and Penalties

Welcome to  EO Radio Show – Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . This episode focuses on the importance of meeting the federal tax filing deadlines that apply to charitable organizations. Most charitable organizations that are...

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Publication

Trends Guest Editorial: Wildfires and Wineries

Link to the article in Gradient's Trends  Spring 2023 newsletter. Recurring wildfires in the Napa and Sonoma Counties of California have created a set of niche problems for the surrounding wineries, on top of...

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News

Farella Braun + Martel Earns Mansfield Certification Plus Status

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News

Chambers USA 2023 Recognizes Farella Braun + Martel Lawyers, Practices

Farella Braun + Martel is pleased to announce that Chambers USA has recognized 16 lawyers and six practice areas in the legal directory’s 2023 edition. Individual California and Western U.S. Rankings: Sarah Bell &ndash...

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