We are proud to announce that Farella Braun + Martel lawyers were honored among the 2026 “California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year” by the Daily Journal for their role in protecting the rule of law by representing pro bono a class of University of California researchers whose federal grant funding was unlawfully terminated by the Trump Administration. The annual CLAY Awards honor lawyers whose achievements have far-reaching impacts in law, business, and society.

The Trump Administration Executive Orders at issue in this first-of-its-kind class action litigation resulted in summary and blanket terminations of grant funding for University of California researchers. These government actions conflict with our nation’s foundational principles, violate key Constitutional rights, and directly impact vital research work at UC that the federal government had previously determined to be worthy of funding and completion.    

Since filing the initial complaint in June 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the team has secured preliminary injunctions ordering the government to cease grant terminations and to reinstate previously terminated research grants by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and in September 2025, the injunction was expanded to include grants terminated by the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Transportation (DOT), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

The team’s successes have restored more than 700 research grants, allowing almost $1 billion in grant funding to keep flowing, important research to continue, and, in some instances, to be completed. The team takes pride in its accomplishments in holding the administration accountable and upholding the rule of law. The preliminary injunction is currently under appeal in the Ninth Circuit.

Farella’s Tony Schoenberg and Linda Gilleran co-manage the high-profile litigation in conjunction with lawyers at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and legal scholars Erwin Chemerinsky and Claudia Polsky. The full Farella team honored includes Don Sobelman, Dylan Silva, Kyle McLorg, and Katherine Balkoski. The Lieff Cabraser team includes Elizabeth Cabraser, Richard Heimann, Kevin Budner, and Annie Wanless.

Read the profile here.

The case is Thakur v. Trump, USDC Northern District of California Case No. 3:25-cv-4737-RFL; Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals No. 25-4249.

Farella Braun + Martel is a leading Northern California law firm representing corporate and private clients in sophisticated business and real estate transactions and complex commercial, civil, and criminal litigation. Clients seek our imaginative legal solutions and the dynamism and intellectual creativity of our lawyers. We are headquartered in San Francisco and maintain an office in the Napa Valley focused on the wine industry.

Contact:
Cheryl Loof
Farella Braun + Martel LLP
415.954.4433 / [email protected]

Resources

• Professors, Litigators Fight Back Against Trump's UC Grant Cuts-And Win - PDF Profile