Thomas Cochrane is an associate in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He practices in the firm’s Litigation Department, where he focuses on complex commercial litigation, labor and employment law, and arbitration.

Thomas has a broad range of trial-court and appellate litigation experience. He has taken and defended depositions, authored and argued motions, and second-chaired a multimillion-dollar arbitration. Thomas has also authored appellate briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, California Supreme Court, and numerous state and federal intermediate appellate courts. Recent engagements include:

• Representing a number of gig economy and logistics industry clients in putative class actions, PAGA actions, and government enforcement actions alleging misclassification of workers as independent contractors.
• Represented multiple gig economy companies in “mass arbitration” disputes and proceedings, drafted appellate briefs defending the enforcement of arbitration agreements, and advised numerous companies on revisions to their arbitration agreements.
• Conducted employment-related internal investigations for prominent companies and universities.
• Obtained summary judgment and a sizeable attorneys’ fees award in a quiet title action preserving coastal property near Malibu, California as open space in perpetuity.

Thomas earned his law degree in 2017 from the UCLA School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. While in law school, he served as Chief Articles Editor of the UCLA Law Review and was a member of the UCLA School of Law Supreme Court Clinic. Thomas graduated from the University of San Francisco in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and Minors in History, French, and Legal Studies.

He is a member of the State Bar of California and is admitted to practice law before the United States District Court for the Central District of California and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.