Robert Nelson's Email & Phone

Robert has played a leading role in the firm's tobacco, aviation, motor vehicle, defective products and qui tam (whistleblower) litigation over the past 16 years, taking on many of the world's largest corporations and holding them accountable. Robert has served as court-appointed Lead or Co-Lead Counsel in numerous state and federal coordinated proceedings, as well as in more than 20 class actions. Robert served as lead trial counsel in a wrongful death action involving a defect in Chrysler vehicles that resulted in a punitive damage verdict of $50 million against the company. For his work on the case, Robert received a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) award and was Finalist for both the Consumer At­torneys of California Trial Lawyer of the Year award and the San Fran­cisco Trial Lawyer Association's Trial Lawyer of the Year award. California Lawyer called the victory against DaimlerChrysler, one of the year's largest personal injury verdicts,? and noted this was the first park-to-reverse case against Chrysler in 25 years to make it to trial. In 2010, Robert accomplished the extremely rare feat of receiving a second CLAY award. He was recognized for his work as lead trial counsel in obtaining a $78.5 million whistleblower settlement against the University of Phoenix. The settlement is believed to be among the largest ever achieved under the False Claims Act in a case in which the U.S. Department of Justice did not intervene. Robert also played a lead role in litigation against the tobacco companies, which resulted in settlements valued at more than $200 billion, the largest settlement in history. Robert is a frequent lecturer on various aspects of class action practice, as well as subject areas such as product liability and whistleblower cases. Before entering private practice, Robert served as a judicial clerk for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and conducted numerous trials as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California. Awards & Honors "Lawdragon Finalist," Lawdragon, 2009-2011 "California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY)" Award, California Lawyer, 2008, 2010 "Consumer Attorney of the Year Finalist," Consumer Attorneys of California, 2007, 2010 "Northern California Super Lawyer," Super Lawyers, 2004-2010 "San Francisco Trial Lawyer of the Year Finalist," San Francisco Trial Lawyers' Association, 2007 Prior Employment Judicial Clerk to Judge Stephen Reinhardt, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit 1987-1988 Assistant Federal Public Defender, Northern District of California, 1988-1993 Legal Research and Writing Instructor, University of California, Hastings College of the Law, 1989-1991 (part-time position) Publications False Claims Roundtable, California Lawyer (June 2010) Product Liability Roundtable, California Lawyer (March 2010) Product Liability Roundtable, California Lawyer (July 2009) Co-Author with Elizabeth Cabraser, "Class Action Treatment of Punitive Damages Issues after Philip Morris v. Williams: We Can Get There From Here," 2 Charleston Law Review 2 (Spring 2008) Product Liability Roundtable, California Lawyer (December 2007) Contributing Author, California Class Actions Practice and Procedures (Elizabeth J. Cabraser, Editor-in-Chief, 2003) "The Importance of Privilege Logs," The Practical Litigator, Vol. II, No. 2 (ALI-ABA, March 2000) "To Infer or Not to Infer a Discriminatory Purpose: Rethinking Equal Protection Doctrine," 61 New York University Law Review 334 (1986)