Brian Timmons is the Global Head of Complex Litigation and Chair of the Private Investment Fund Litigation Practice for Quinn Emanuel. A highly regarded trial lawyer with a national litigation practice, he has tried many cases to verdict in multiple locations throughout the United States, including New York, Delaware, and California. He has also represented clients in legal proceedings and arbitrations around the world, including in Hong Kong, Singapore, South America, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Cayman Islands. Clients praise him for his brilliance, tenacity, judgment, and skill in the courtroom. He has been named one of the “Best Attorneys of America” by Rue Ratings and was recognized as among the “top 1% of attorneys in America” for Complex Litigation by Premier Lawyers of America. He was named Litigator of the Year in 2020 by the American Institute of Trial Lawyers, elected to the Irish Legal 100 in 2020, and chosen by Lawdragon 500 as a Leading Litigator in General & Commercial Litigation, 2022. He was a recipient of the “Distinguished Lawyers of America” award for 2019 and 2020 and has been recognized as one of Southern California’s “Super Lawyers” every year from 2006 to the present by the Los Angeles Magazine.
He has represented clients from nearly every industry and in nearly every litigation setting. He tends to specialize, however, in complex disputes involving finance, accounting, or corporate governance. His practice includes commercial disputes, securities and commodities litigation, creditors’ rights, avoidance and other bankruptcy-related litigation, market manipulation cases, SEC enforcement actions, unfair competition and anti-trust litigation, structured financial product litigation, including ISDA disputes, M&A litigation, battles for corporate control, breach of fiduciary duty, and trade secret and employee mobility disputes. He regularly represents investment fund managers (private equity funds, private credit funds, hedge funds, venture capital funds, mutual funds), financial institutions, public and private corporations (both foreign and domestic), creditor committees, litigation trusts, audit committees, boards of directors, family offices, and high net worth individuals, including a number of well-known celebrities.
Mr. Timmons was born and raised in rural Idaho and attended Duke University on a football scholarship. He graduated from Duke in the top 2% of his class, studied finance and economics at the London School of Economics, was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard College, and graduated from Harvard Law School with honors, where he also served as the Managing Editor of a law journal. He has been published in The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek Magazine and he currently serves on the Harvard Law School Leadership Council. Before joining Quinn Emanuel, he participated in the federal indigent defense panel program and was a partner at Latham & Watkins.
- Sixth Street Partners
- Golub Capital
- PIMCO
- Parmalat Spa
- Canyon Capital
- The Hudson Group
- Western Asset Management Co.
- SemGroup Litigation Trust
- Grupo CCR
- Allergan
- Foresite Capital
- BitGo
- Physiotherapy Litigation Trust
- TPG
- Kayne Anderson Capital
- Beach Point Capital
- Knighthead Capital
- Peterson Capital
- GoldenTree
- Blue Mountain Capital
- The Irvine Company
- C.J. Segerstrom & Sons
- Babcock & Wilcox
- MF Global Litigation Trust
- Steel Partners
- Lender Liability & Other Banking Financial Institution Litigation
- Class Action Litigation
- Domestic U.S. Arbitration
- Employment Litigation & Counseling
- Investment Fund Litigation
- Securities Litigation
- Sports Litigation
- Structured Finance & Derivatives Litigation
- Transnational Litigation
- Investigations, Government Enforcement & White Collar Criminal Defense Practice
- Antitrust & Competition
- Bankruptcy & Restructuring
- Copyright Litigation
- Insurance & Reinsurance Litigation
- Real Estate Litigation
- Shareholder Activist Litigation
- Securities Enforcement Defense Practice
- Delaware Practice
- Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation
- Investment Advisor & Asset Manager Litigation
- International Disputes
- Private Equity Fund Litigation
- Distressed Investment Litigation
- Hedge Fund Litigation
- Representing Pension Funds, Other Managed Funds, and Government Agencies as Plaintiffs
- Sovereign Wealth Fund Litigation
- Section 1782
- International Arbitration
- Corporate Governance Litigation
- Accounting & Financial Reporting Litigation
- Harvard Law School
(J.D., cum laude, 1991) - The London School of Economics and Political Science
(1988) - Duke University
(A.B., summa cum laude, 1988)- Varsity Football Scholarship Recipient
- The State Bar of California
- The State Bar of New York
- The District of Columbia Bar
- United States Court of Appeals:
- Ninth Circuit
- United States District Courts:
- Northern District of California
- Central District of California
- Southern District of California
- Eastern District of California
- Southern District of New York (pro hac vice)
- Eastern District of Illinois (pro hac vice)
- Western District of North Carolina (pro hac vice)
- Middle District of Pennsylvania (pro hac vice)
- District of Delaware (pro hac vice)
- Spanish
- Latham & Watkins:
- Partner, 1998-2000
- Associate, 1991-1997
- Selected as a Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Litigators Guide, Global Disputes, 2023
- Selected as a Lawdragon 500 Leading US Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers for Bankruptcy & Complex Financial Litigation, 2023
- Recognized by Lawdragon 500 as a Leading Litigator in General & Commercial Litigation, 2022
- Selected as a Lawdragon 500 Leading Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyer, 2022
- “Duty of Loyalty Issues for Designated Directors and the Board of Portfolio Companies,” Deal Lawyers, November-December Issue 2020
- “Think Twice Before Using Deal Counsel As Litigation Counsel,” Law360, April 2020.
- “Mistakes Smart Clients Make When They Hire Litigation Counsel,” Today’s General Counsel, March 2015.
- “Regulating Credit Default Swaps,” Financier Worldwide, July 2009.
- Harvard College:
- Teaching Fellow, 1991
- Board of Governors for the LA Association of Business Trial Lawyers