Latham & Watkins LLP1 is pleased to announce that John M. Pierce has joined the firm’s Los Angeles office as a partner in the Litigation Department. Pierce has represented individuals and companies in cases across a broad range of complex business disputes, with a particular focus on trial work. Pierce joins Latham from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in Los Angeles, where he had been a partner since 2010.

While at Quinn, Pierce has obtained verdicts, pre-trial judgments and settlements for institutional clients and individuals amounting to more than $292 million. He has also successfully defended cases through trial against plaintiffs collectively seeking more than a billion dollars. His clients include financial institutions, private equity investors, hedge funds, technology companies and insurance companies.

“John is widely recognized as one of the brightest young trial lawyers in Los Angeles, and we’re thrilled to have him join us. We think there is an enormous opportunity both for John and for us in plugging him into our global platform and client base,” said Jim Beaubien, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles.

“John’s high-stakes trial practice is a perfect fit for our office and the direction of our practice,” said Robert Perrin, Co-Chair of the Litigation Department in the Los Angeles office. “Clients seek John out for his brilliant trial record, and they keep coming back to him because of his strategic judgment and integrity – exactly what you want from your lawyer and your partner.”

“I am very excited to be joining Latham,” Pierce said. “I was particularly drawn to the firm’s collaborative culture, and its ambition to continue to build its high-stakes litigation practice around the world. I also felt an instant connection with the many partners I met, and already feel very much at home.”

Pierce received his law degree in 2000 from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating with highest honors from the University of Notre Dame in 1994 with a degree in finance and business economics, and prior to attending law school, Pierce served as a second lieutenant in the 1st Cavalry Division of the US Army, where he was a tank platoon leader. He was an associate at Cohen & Grigsby in Pittsburgh until 2006, when he joined Quinn Emanuel in Los Angeles and was admitted as a partner in January 2010.

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