Chris Whittaker is an associate in the Orange County office of Gibson Dunn.  He is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department and its Antitrust & Competition and Labor & Employment practice groups.  Mr. Whittaker represents clients in a wide range of high-stakes, complex commercial cases, with an emphasis in antitrust and competition, technology and intellectual property, and employment matters.  He has significant experience litigating matters involving software development and maintenance, oil and gas, app store and handheld phone technology, logistics operations, health and beauty products, and direct-sales business models.  Mr. Whittaker is experienced in all phases of litigation, including pleadings, discovery, dispositive motions, trials, and appeals.  Mr. Whittaker currently serves as the National Membership Chair of the Federal Bar Association’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Section.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Whittaker served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ted Stewart, then-chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and the Honorable J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Mr. Whittaker’s representative matters include:

• Defending a global provider of software support for enterprise resource planning software in a federal suit involving copyright infringement, competition, and business tort claims.
• Defending a multi-national oil and gas company in a federal price-fixing class action against direct and indirect purchasers.
• Representing a multi-national technology corporation against monopolization and patent infringement claims brought by an app developer.
• Defending a global technology company in multiple wage and hour class actions in California state and federal court.
• Representing a global health products company in an independent contractor misclassification class action in federal court.

Mr. Whittaker received his law degree magna cum laude from Brigham Young University in 2011, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an editor for the BYU Law Review.  In 2007, Mr. Whittaker earned a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Brigham Young University-Hawaii.