Randolph Gaw

Randolph Gaw is an experienced trial and appellate litigator who has been practicing since he graduated from Stanford Law School in 2002 with his co-founder Mark Poe. From the time he co-founded Gaw | Poe LLP back in 2014, he has been a first or second-chair of at least ten different trials and arbitrations and has obtained verdicts, judgments, or arbitration awards in those matters valued at over $60 million. He has also been appellate counsel of record on eleven appeals and writ petitions to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals or the California Court of Appeal and prevailed in most of them. He has also obtained settlements for his clients in excess of $30 million.

Prior to co-founding Gaw | Poe LLP, Mr. Gaw spent more than ten years of litigation practice at international law firms O’Melveny & Myers and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. While at O’Melveny & Myers, he was counsel of record on two winning trial teams for an 11-month bench trial in San Diego County Superior Court (a successful defense of a $200 million breach of fiduciary duty case) and a 5-week jury trial in federal court (a successful defense of a $1.6 billion trade secrets case). He also argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice and was counsel of record for Ford Motor Company on a successful Ohio state court appeal that overturned a $2 billion jury verdict. While at Wilson Sonsini, he was a member of numerous teams that successfully defended corporations against securities fraud class action lawsuits, helped a leading investment bank achieve complete victory following an arbitration of a $30 million claim brought by a disgruntled investor, helped obtain a $30+ million settlement for an individual client against a leading private equity firm, and spent a year on assignment in New York City helping the firm open its litigation practice in that office.

Mr. Gaw has been named a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society where fellowship is by invitation only and is limited to less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. Mr. Gaw was also recognized as a Super Lawyer™ for Northern California in 2018-2022, and as a Rising Star™ for Northern California for 2016 and 2017, by Super Lawyers magazine. While at Stanford Law School, Mr. Gaw was a member of the winning team in the moot court competition and also won the award for giving the best individual oral argument. Before attending Stanford, Mr. Gaw graduated from U.C. Berkeley with high distinction (magna cum laude) with a degree in political science and economics.

Mr. Gaw represents both plaintiffs and defendants in civil litigation. He practices in the fields of complex commercial litigation, antitrust litigation, catastrophic injury litigation, trade secrets litigation, class actions, and employment litigation.

Representative engagements include:

• AdTrader v. Google (N.D. Cal.).  Lead trial counsel in putative class action brought on behalf of Google advertisers alleging that Google failed to issue them refunds for invalid ad traffic.  18 months into the lawsuit, Google announced its intention to issue approximately $75 million in refunds to one of the proposed advertiser classes for previously unrefunded invalid ad traffic.  The lawsuit is ongoing.
• First-chair in arbitration involving a dispute between the founder of a successful startup and his former company over a stock repurchase and the startup’s refusal to indemnify the founder in connection with a related third-party lawsuit. The arbitrator issued an award worth more than $10 million in favor of our client.
• Lead trial counsel in personal injury lawsuit brought by student against school district for debilitating injuries suffered due to negligent supervision by teachers. Case settled for $10 million.
• Donald Okada v. Mark Whitehead (C.D. Cal.). First-chair in jury trial involving dispute between former real estate partners. Unanimous jury verdict awarded our client over $500,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, ratified the legality of certain actions taken by him worth approximately $1 million, and denied recovery on any of the defendant’s $7 million worth of counterclaims.
• Trendsettah USA v. Swisher International (C.D. Cal.). Second-chair in Sherman Act Section 2 jury trial against world’s largest cigar manufacturer. Unanimous jury verdict awarded our client $44.4 million in trebled antitrust damages.
• Cox Fricke LLP v. Barranco. (D. Haw.)  First-chair in arbitration involving a dispute over legal fees.  The arbitrator ordered that our client had to pay a prominent Hawaii law firm only $147,000 for work they had performed for him, when those attorneys were asking for more than $4 million.    
• Products and Ventures Int’l v. Axus Stationery (Shanghai) Ltd. (N.D. Cal.).  Lead trial counsel in breach of contract lawsuit over an exclusive distribution agreement between a boutique distributor and one of the largest pencil-makers in the world.  Obtained and fully collected upon a $4.4 million judgment, even though the defendant was a Chinese company with no assets based in the United States.    
• Deutsche-Hollandische Tabakgesellschaft v. Trendsettah (C.D. Cal.)  Second-chair in breach of contract jury trial brought by large tobacco component manufacturer against a small cigarillo manufacturer.  Unanimous jury verdict awarded our client $3 million on breach of implied warranty counterclaims, whereas its own liability was limited to $484,000.
• Lead trial counsel in personal injury lawsuit brought by driver for injuries suffered in an automobile accident caused by another driver – an employee of a popular food delivery app.  Case settled for $828,000.
• Lead trial counsel in fraud and breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit brought by investors over misrepresentations made to them by company management in connection with a bridge loan financing.  Case settled for $1,250,000.
• Google AdSense cases. Lead trial counsel in lawsuits brought by AdSense publishers against Google for failure to engage in contractually-promised revenue sharing.
• Diya TV v. KAXT, LLC (Santa Clara Cty. Sup. Ct.).  First-chair in breach of contract trial brought by television programmer against television station that ceased to broadcast the programmer’s television shows. Bench trial resulted in verdict in favor of client, awarding nearly $250,000 in lost profits.
• Innovation Ventures v. Pittsburg Wholesale, et al. (N.D. Cal.). Lead trial counsel for defendant accused of selling counterfeit products. After asserting a counterclaim against a co-defendant, the case settled with the client paying less to the plaintiff than what it received in settlement funds from the co-defendant.
• Defended Fortune 500 homebuilder in an 11-month bench trial in California state court over $200 million in claims of improper accounting and mismanagement regarding the development of one of the premier master-planned communities in San Diego County. The trial court issued judgment in favor of the client on all counts and ordered the plaintiff to pay tens of millions of dollars in attorney’s fees and counter-claims.
• Represented publicly traded conditional access software developer in a $1.6 billion trade secrets litigation concerning satellite television technology. Following a 5-week jury trial in federal court, the client prevailed on 25 of 29 claims and was ordered to pay only $1,500 on the remaining four claims. The client was also subsequently awarded attorney’s fees of nearly $18 million. The verdict was named one of the “Top Ten Defense Verdicts of 2008” by The Daily Journal.
• Won appeal on behalf of Big Three auto manufacturer vacating a $2 billion state court class action judgment and trial verdict in breach of contract lawsuit concerning its franchise agreements with heavy and medium truck dealers.
• Counsel for Fortune 500 homebuilder in employment discrimination case concerning allegations that the client marginalized employees attempting to whistleblow over client’s alleged attempts to cover up harmful environmental activities in low-income housing area. The case settled on favorable terms to the client.
• Defended investment bank and investment professional in $30 million claim concerning breach of fiduciary duties relating to private wealth management services. The clients prevailed on every claim in private arbitration.
• Represented former private equity managing director in arbitration against private equity firm concerning wrongfully withheld backend compensation. The case settled on favorable terms to the client.
• Counsel for investment bank in $100 million securities fraud action over limited offering of corporate debentures. The case settled on favorable terms to the client.

Education

Stanford Law School, J.D., 2002
Best Individual Oral Argument & Best Team awards, Stanford Law School Moot Court Competition
Senior Editor, Stanford Journal of Law, Business, and Finance

University of California at Berkeley, B.A., Economics and Political Science
Graduated with high honors
Phi Beta Kappa
Student Advocate, Associated Students of the University of California

Professional Activities

Admitted, California; US District Court, Northern, Central, Southern and Eastern Districts of California; US Courts of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; United States Supreme Court
Member, San Francisco Bar Association
Member, National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association
Member, American Bar Association
Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America
2018-2020 Northern California Super Lawyer, Super Lawyers™
2016, 2017 Northern California Rising Star, Super Lawyers™