Blaine H. Evanson is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s litigation department, practicing primarily in the appellate and constitutional law practice group. He has represented clients in several matters before the Supreme Court of the United States and in federal and state appellate courts around the country. He has experience across a broad array of industries and subject matter areas, at all stages of litigation. He regularly joins trial teams in the lead up to trial to assist with complex briefing, strategy, and preservation of issues for appellate review.

Law360 named Blaine one of five national appellate “Rising Stars” under 40 in 2018, Euromoney  named him the 2018 “Best in Litigation: Appellate” under 40, and Benchmark Litigation  included him on its “40 & Under Hot List.” He has for several years been listed in the appellate practice section of The Best Lawyers in America  and as a “Southern California Super Lawyer.” Blaine is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Recent representative matters include:

• Persuading the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and then reverse an award of non-taxable expenses on behalf of a software support provider in a complex copyright infringement action.
• Representing film studios before the Supreme Court in a case involving the application of the laches defense to copyright infringement.
• Prevailing before the First, Third, and Ninth Circuits, and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, on the scope of the Section 1 exemption to the Federal Arbitration Act, on behalf of multiple gig economy platform companies.
• Obtaining a new trial on damages and reversal from the Federal Circuit on the eligibility of patent claims under Section 101 in a case where a jury had awarded $533 million for patent infringement.
• Securing mandamus relief from the Fifth Circuit directing the district court to transfer venue in a complex copyright infringemenet case.
• Convincing the Ninth Circuit to affirm dismissal of a complaint against a technology company asserting claims under the Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act.
• Convincing the California Court of Appeal to reverse summary judgment in a complex contractor dispute brought against the City of Monterey.
• Obtaining reversal from the Third Circuit of a $36 million judgment against an insurer based on the district court’s erroneous interpretation of an asbestos exclusion.
• Obtaining reversal from the Federal Circuit of a multi-million-dollar contempt sanction against a software company alleged to have infringed a competitor’s patents.
• Obtaining reversal from the Federal Circuit on the ineligibility of patents directed to a secure transaction system for untrusted computer networks.

Before joining the firm, Blaine served as a law clerk for Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He graduated from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar and a Senior Editor on the Columbia Law Review. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from Brigham Young University.

Blaine has taught advanced constitutional law courses at the Brigham Young University, University of Southern California, and University of California, Irvine law schools. He has served in leadership for several bar organizations, including Community Legal Aid SoCal, the appellate section of the Orange County Bar Association, and the J. Reuben Clark Law Society. He oversees the pro bono efforts of the firm’s Orange County office and maintains an active pro bono practice, representing clients in cases involving religious liberty, immigration, voting rights, and domestic violence.

Blaine is a member of the California bar, and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States; all thirteen Circuits of the United States Courts of Appeals; and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Eastern Districts of California and the Eastern District of Michigan.