M. Randall Oppenheimer

Partner

Randy Oppenheimer is the Firmwide Chair of the Litigation Department at O’Melveny & Myers. He has emphasized national trial practice, litigation and counseling involving the business community, the energy, financial services, investment and entertainment industries, intellectual property issues, environmental issues, and antitrust and regulatory matters. Randy was among the Firm’s partners featured by The American Lawyer when it chose the Firm to receive the Litigation Department of the Year Award in 2004, and, again, when it chose the Firm as a Finalist in 2011. He has been named a member of the Lawdragon “500 Leading Litigators in America”; included in the Chambers USA “National Practice Leaders” directory as a leader in Litigation; and named a “Super Lawyer” in surveys conducted by Law & Politics Media Inc. While covering one of his trials, the Washington Post reported on what they described as Randy’s “razor-sharp intellect . . . [and] dignified delivery” in the courtroom. He has served on the Firm’s Compensation and other committees and was awarded the 2008 O’Melveny & Myers Values Award in recognition of his practice excellence and contributions to the Firm.

Illustrative Professional Experience

Illustrative Trial Experience:

• Represented a major aerospace manufacturer in mass tort litigation involving in excess of 2,000 claims arising from one of the largest superfund site in the United States. The case settled mid-trial for less than plaintiffs’ costs, a miniscule fraction of the amount sought
• Successfully obtained a complete defense jury verdict for a major oil producer against claims that it owed in excess of US$30 million to various Alaskan municipalities for unpaid oil spill clean up costs. The jury awarded zero. This verdict became one of the National Law Journal’s top defense verdicts for 2002
• Successfully secured a judgment after trial barring claims against a multinational oil company for alleged human rights abuses in Myanmar/Burma
• One of the lead trial counsel for a senior executive at his criminal trial in Federal Court in the Southern District of Texas (Houston)
• Lead trial counsel for a major oil producer in multiple proceedings in its successful effort to prevent cancellation of its leases at one of the largest natural gas reservoirs in the United States
• One of the lead trial counsel for one of the country’s largest public homebuilders in trials successfully defending the company against accusations of fraud and malfeasance in connection with a landmark resort and home development near San Diego
• Lead trial counsel for a major multinational financial services corporation in Federal Court in the Western District of Missouri defeating claims of undisclosed pension management fees exceeding US$300 million
• Lead trial counsel for a major multinational insurance corporation obtaining a US$236 million dollar recovering for the company on the eve of trial

Illustrative Appellate Experience:

• Multiple appellate arguments including Doe v. Unocal before an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal

Illustrative Professional Experience:

Commercial Litigation Involving the Entertainment Industry

• Lead outside counsel for a major television network in connection with class action matters, including a class action over alleged music rights violations and a class action over alleged unfair business practices (each with claimed damages substantially in excess of US$100 million)
• Lead outside counsel for a major independent production company in various matters, including litigation with CBS concerning US$53 million in disputed licensing fees, litigation with a talent agency that materially reduced that agency’s claim to various television packaging fees, various negative injunction matters involving key talent, profit participation litigation, and intellectual property rights matters
• Lead outside counsel for a major studio in various matters, including litigation involving the studio’s television syndication practices
• Lead outside counsel for a major studio in various matters, including class action litigation involving European levies, litigation involving a motion picture, litigation involving a television series, and litigation concerning a film library
• Lead outside counsel for a major television network in litigation involving a popular animated series
• Lead outside counsel for a major production studio in various matters, including litigation to recover programming fees under an exclusive theatrical output agreement, class action litigation involving video advertising, and litigation involving syndication of a television series
• Lead outside counsel for an entertainment cable channel in litigation involving pay-per-view television product
• Lead outside counsel for a client in connection with disputes involving the sale of an NBA basketball team

Intellectual Property

• Co-lead outside counsel for a major computer manufacturer in litigation in the Northern District of California and Japan, successfully enjoining infringements of the distinctive trade dress of a personal computer (successfully asserting both trademark and dilution claims)
• Lead outside counsel for a major producer of microchips in litigation in Delaware federal court that successfully defeated an attempt by Intel to enjoin client’s use of MMX as a merchandising designation for its chips

Additional Environmental

• Co-lead outside counsel for a major oil producer in the successful defense of land damage claims in the aftermath of an oil spill (in the face of aggregate claims exceeding US$350 million, the Alaskan jury awarded less than US$7 million in claims for damages to native lands, in one case awarding the native corporation plaintiff zero dollars in damages). (Different trial from the 2002 trial mentioned previously.)

Regulatory and Antitrust

• Co-lead outside counsel for a major studio in class action antitrust litigation brought against the major studios alleging a conspiracy to fix the terms and conditions of net profits in talent contracts
• Lead outside counsel for a major cement supplier in Hart-Scott-Rodino actions before the FTC relating to the acquisition of cement import facilities
• Lead outside counsel for a major public utility company for direct cost audit matters during the prudency review of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant
• Co-lead outside counsel for a Japanese steel producer alleged in a private civil damages action to have violated US dumping laws

Professional Liability

•  Lead outside counsel in numerous professional liability matters for AmLaw 50 law firms

Professional Activities

Vice Chairman,  Sub-Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law, Antitrust Section of the ABA
Lecturer,  "Entertainment, Arts and Sports," ALI-ABA annual panel; "Whose Idea Is It Anyway? - Issues of Common Law and Copyright in Idea Submission Cases," Beverly Hills Bar Association (February 1999)
Faculty,  "Trademark Dilution Surveys; What Are We Measuring?" Intellectual Property Panel, Price Waterhouse IP Leadership Conference (Scottsdale)
ABA Panel,  "Litigating Internet Issues," ABA Summer Meeting
Honors,  Recognized by AmLaw as a Top Rated Lawyer in Energy/Environmental (2013); selected as a member of the Lawdragon 500 "Leading Litigators in America"; included in the Chambers USA "National Practice Leaders" directory as a leader in Litigation; named a "Super Lawyer" in surveys conducted by Law & Politics Media Inc. and published by Los Angeles magazine; listed in "Who's Who In America"