Chris Brown

Christian N. Brown is a senior associate in the San Francisco office and a member of the Employment Group.  He has a broad range of experience litigating employment disputes, with a specialization in the defense of large class actions. 

Mr. Brown's experience includes managing cases in both state and federal court that involve claims for wage-and-hour violations, unfair competition, discrimination and retaliation.  Mr. Brown also counsels employers on litigation avoidance, successfully defends results obtained for clients on appeal, and has prior experience with general commercial litigation, intellectual property disputes, and white collar criminal investigations and prosecutions.  

Recent successes include:

• Defeating class certification in Coughlin v. Sears Holdings Corp., Central District of California Case No. CV 08-00015 CJC (RNBx), wherein plaintiffs sought to represent a class of all former employees in California on claims for unpaid vacation benefits and unfair competition.      
• Working as part of the team that defeated class certification in Drake v. Morgan Stanley and Company, Inc., Central District of California Case No. CV 09-6467 ODW (RCx), a proposed class action alleging that the defendant misclassified stock brokers as exempt from overtime requirements. 
• Defeating class certification in Ortega v. Sears, Roebuck and Co., Santa Barbara Superior Court Case No. 01264561, wherein plaintiff sought to represent all current and former service technicians on various wage/hour and unfair competition claims.  Mr. Brown successfully defended the trial court's denial of class certification on appeal.
• Defeating a motion for a temporary restraining order that would have barred Orrick clients from developing applications for Apple's iPhone on the ground that the iPhone does not represent a "social networking platform" akin to Facebook or My Space.