Mr. Bennett’s litigation practice focuses on complex commercial matters. These include RICO cases, breach of contract actions, securities law violations, toxic tort, employment cases and intellectual property matters including patent, trade secret claims and related business torts such as defamation, interference claims, insurance coverage and bad faith.

Mr. Bennett is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and an associate member of The American Board of Trial Advocates.

Mr. Bennett has tried numerous civil and criminal cases in federal and state trial courts. He has appeared extensively in the United States District Courts for the Northern and Eastern Districts of California and in the San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo and Los Angeles Superior Courts. He has successfully defended at trial numerous cases in which multi-million damage awards were sought.

Mr. Bennett has achieved the following results where he has acted as lead trial counsel on behalf of defendants:

• The successful defense of JDS Uniphase and three of its former officers in the trial of a class action securities case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In this case, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants violated Section 10(b) of the 1934 Act by making numerous false statements regarding JDSU business prospects. The plaintiffs also alleged defendant’s financial statements were false and misleading. Finally, the plaintiffs alleged that each of the individual defendants had engaged in illegal insider trading. Plaintiffs sought damages in excess of $20 billion based on these claims. This is one of the largest damages claims ever presented at trial in the United States. After a four week trial the jury, after less than two days of deliberation, returned a unanimous verdict on behalf of each of the defendants on every claim advanced by the plaintiffs.
• The successful defense of a major national title company in two back-to-back three-month trials in which compensatory and punitive damages in a total amount exceeding $200 million were sought. The claims included the improper solicitation of over 500 employees and the misappropriation of trade secrets and other torts brought against the company by the third largest title company in the United States.
• The successful defense in an international arbitration proceeding of breach of license and trade secret misappropriation claims against a major, international wireless provider brought by a semiconductor company seeking damages in excess of $450 million.
• The defense in a major insurance coverage action of 23 carrier defendants in a case involving over $500 million of disputed coverage.
• In the fall of 2000, Mr. Bennett was co-lead counsel in the representation of Altera Corporation in patent litigation with its major competitor in the programmable logic device industry, Xilinx, Inc. In this San Jose District Court action, the Court granted Judgment as a Matter of Law to Altera following a six-week jury trial. In June 2001, the firm represented Altera in a trial at the International Trade Commission on a patent infringement complaint brought by Xilinx. Both cases settled favorably before a decision was rendered by the Judge in the ITC action.

Mr. Bennett also has extensive experience representing plaintiffs in a variety of commercial matters. His trial record includes four plaintiffs’ cases in which he has obtained verdicts and judgments with a collective value in excess of $160 million. Mr. Bennett’s trial accomplishments on behalf of plaintiffs include:

• A $43 million judgment (including a $21 million punitive damages award) collected on behalf of an insured in a bad faith case;
• A $3.2 million judgment collected on behalf of a plaintiff in an employment discrimination case;
• A $32 million award in a trade secret misappropriation claim involving medical apparatus;
• A $35 million judgment and permanent injunction in a common law and statutory unfair competition claim case;
• A liability verdict on behalf of over 200 individuals and businesses against numerous state and local government agencies in a case involving damage caused by the March 1995 flooding of the Pajaro River in Monterey, California. Based on these verdicts, settlements at over $50 million were secured by the plaintiffs in this action.

Mr. Bennett has argued on numerous occasions before the California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Bennett’s most recent argument before the California Supreme Court was in the case of Dowhal v. SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare (2004) 32 Cal.4th 910, where he obtained a unanimous decision affirming the trial court’s ruling that Proposition 65’s labeling requirements as to SmithKline’s smoking cessation products is preempted under the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause by the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and FDA regulations.

Mr. Bennett served as firmwide Chair of the Litigation Department from 1999 to 2003. He was listed in the San Francisco Magazine as one of Northern California’s top 100 “Super Lawyers” for General Litigation in 2004 and 2007. He was recommended in the 2007 edition of the Chambers USA guide for Litigation: General Commercial in California. Mr. Bennett was also listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2007 Directory as a leader in the field of Commercial Litigation. Most recently, he was the recipient of a California Lawyer 2008 Attorneys of the Year Award for his successful defense of JDSU Uniphase Corp. and its former executives in a securities class action jury trial.

Mr. Bennett was born in San Francisco, California, in 1950. He received a B.S. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1972, and his J.D. degree in 1975 from Hastings College of the Law, University of California. He was a member of the editorial staff of the Hastings Law Journal and a member of the Order of the Coif.