John M. Pierce
John Pierce is one of the foremost business litigators in the nation, described by Benchmark Plaintiff Litigation as one of the most esteemed jury trial lawyers at the world's largest business-litigation firm, with a "real trial presence" praised by The Legal 500 United States. He built his career at the very top of the field — as a commercial litigation partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, widely regarded as the leading business-litigation firm in the United States, and at Latham & Watkins, the top-ranked firm overall in Southern California.
In 2008, he won two multi-million-dollar jury verdicts within the span of two months — including one ranked among the year's hundred largest verdicts in the United States, and a victory in a major film-financing trial in Los Angeles. On behalf of plaintiffs, John has obtained verdicts, judgments, and settlements amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars; on behalf of corporate defendants, he has successfully defended against more than a billion dollars in claims.
Throughout his career, John has been retained by major corporations and financial institutions in their most difficult, high-profile, bet-the-company disputes — including complex matters involving hedge funds, private equity, structured finance, real estate finance, insurance coverage, intellectual property, and government contracts. Before law school, he served as an M1A1 Abrams tank platoon leader in the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division, completed the Army's Airborne School, and participated in two rotations at the National Training Center.
- —Juris Doctor, Harvard Law School (2000); Editor, Harvard Law Review (Vols. 112 & 113)
- —B.B.A., Finance & Business Economics, University of Notre Dame, summa cum laude
- —Former M1A1 Abrams tank platoon leader, U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division
- —Former partner, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
- —Former partner, Latham & Watkins LLP
- —Admitted: State Bar of California; U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits; and multiple U.S. District Courts