Farella’s Business Litigation Group, a leading trial team for over 50 years, is committed to helping clients anticipate and resolve legal threats to their business activities and projects. Our Group’s long-standing success hinges on these essential qualities: appropriate staffing for size and scope of matter; judgment—informed by experience—to accurately assess opponents, outcomes, and costs; and the strategic use of the law and procedural rules in negotiations, mediations, and trials.

Large corporations, including well-known brands such as Google, Nestle, Chevron, Visa, Dell, Twitter, Novartis, Bausch and Lomb, L'Oreal, and Ghirardelli, to name a few, trust us to handle their litigation matters, particularly in Northern California but also throughout the United States. They value our technical knowledge and ability to explain complex facts to judges and juries.

While much of our work is adversarial, we also look for bottom-line solutions to disputes and strive to avoid costly bare-fisted litigation and preserve our clients’ resources and reputations.

Approach to Staffing

Unlike many litigation practices that routinely staff teams of 10, 15, or 20 lawyers to every case, we find strategic advantage in leaner staffing. Our matters are frequently staffed with smaller, highly qualified teams of a partner and two experienced associates, in which each team member has direct responsibility for the outcome. With fewer internal layers to navigate and manage, our teams become fully engaged in “solving the client’s problem” while avoiding the duplicate efforts commonly experienced in complex hierarchies. Our lawyers see how they need to split up the work and get it done cost effectively, winning all-around positive outcomes for clients. When needed for larger, more complex matters, we will add team members, but always with the goal of solving the client’s problem in the most cost-effective manner possible.

Our partners, who have seen a variety of casework spanning industries as diverse as telecommunications, banking, media, consumer products, food and beverage, wine, retail, semiconductor manufacturing, and computer software, ensure that our associates have “early and often” exposure to making judgment calls about case strategy or, in some instances, participating at trial. A recent example is a successful trade secret case tried in federal court in San Jose, California, where our most important witness, our client’s CEO, was examined on the stand by an associate team member. The associate’s work resulted in a significant victory for our client, in which the jury awarded it over 30-million-dollars in damages.

Generalist to Specialist

Farella’s Business Litigation Group possesses multi-faceted experience in matters that range from antitrust, unfair competition, and appeals to consumer class action defense, real estate litigation and contractual arbitrations, and private wealth disputes, among others.

As a team, we place a high priority on authenticity in our work and our relationships with colleagues and clients. Our attorneys and staff all know each other—we’re in one city, one office—and in many cases, they get to know our clients, too. Our attorneys are also well-known to the local state and federal benches, which we believe gives us a strategic advantage in litigation.

To the extent that there is in-house knowledge that can help solve a client’s problem, our ability to collaborate is essential. When our litigators need advice about unique facts surrounding specific business deals or unusual concepts, we have seamless access to corporate transaction lawyers—just down the hall. Routinely, we consult with our insurance coverage lawyers on policy questions related to paying for litigation defense or a company’s liability. We also work closely with colleagues in our real estate, white collar crime, and private client practices when disputes in those areas arise.

In all cases, our clients report that they appreciate our responsiveness, the careful attention of our partners, and the value they receive from the relationship and our work. To us, our clients are not just a book of business. They are real people with complex legal problems to resolve.

Reputation Beyond Mid-Size

Our practice maintains high standards and, as such, enjoys a stellar reputation in Northern California courts—among the bar and the bench—and litigates cases in many other U.S. jurisdictions. Our lawyers routinely handle significant and newsworthy cases. We genuinely enjoy practicing law and appreciate the craftsmanship and collegiality the profession affords.

Active in the legal community, our group members include former presidents of the San Francisco Bar Association and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and three previous California Lawyers of the Year.

Firm Highlights

Publication

I Always Feel Like AI Is Watching Me: Artificial Intelligence and Privacy

ChatGPT got the early press, and every day we learn of new generative artificial intelligence products that can create new and creative visual and text responses to human input. Following on ChatGPT’s fame, Google’s...

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News

Aviva Gilbert Named a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellow

Aviva Gilbert Headshot at Farella Braun + Martel
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Event

The Fine Print: A Litigator’s Perspective on Boilerplate Contract and Insurance Provisions

Join Carly Alameda and Amy Briggs in the discussion on "The Fine Print: A Litigator’s Perspective on Boilerplate Contract and Insurance Provisions" to the ACC Bay Area Chapter. Corporate counsel are often tasked with negotiating...

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News

Profile in Women Leadership - Mary McCutcheon

Mary McCutcheon Headshot
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Publication

Hot Topic: UPMIFA in the Context of Financial System Instability

Welcome to  EO Radio Show – Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . A really hot topic this week is the duty of care for directors and trustees of charities in a time of volatility in...

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Publication

Nonprofit Basics: Conflict of Interest Policies and Best Practices for Approving Insider Compensation

Welcome to  EO Radio Show – Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . This episode is the second in a series discussing insider transactions. In episode 32, I gave a general overview of the federal laws...

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Event

The Fine Print: A Litigator’s Perspective on Boilerplate Contract and Insurance Provisions

Join Carly Alameda and Amy Briggs for the ACC Bay Area Chapter program "The Fine Print: A Litigator’s Perspective on Boilerplate Contract and Insurance Provisions."  Corporate counsel are often tasked with negotiating, finalizing, and managing...

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News

WhatsApp and Facebook Take the NSO Group to Court

Kyle McLorg was interviewed for the  Shoot The Messenger: Espionage, Murder, & Pegasus Spyware  investigative podcast episode “WhatsApp and Facebook Take the NSO Group to Court” produced by Exile Media in collaboration with The...

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Publication

Nonprofit Basics: Best Practices for Approving Insider Compensation Decisions

Welcome to  EO Radio Show – Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . This episode is the third in a series discussing insider transactions by exempt organizations. In this episode, I'll look closely at best practices...

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Event

23rd Annual Wine Industry Conference

Farella Braun + Martel is a Presenting Partner of the  North Bay Business Journal' s 23rd Annual Wine Industry Conference. The conference will explore new trends and challenges to the wine industry in the North Bay. Farella's Richard...

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