Sean D. Unger is a partner in the Litigation practice of Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s San Francisco office.
Mr. Unger represents and advises clients in consumer class actions, privacy class actions, antitrust and competition cases, trade secret cases, and intellectual property disputes. His practice emphasizes appellate litigation. He has briefed or argued cases in numerous state and federal courts of appeal. He has represented both parties and amicus before the United States and California Supreme Courts. Mr. Unger has also represented clients in need of post-trial disaster mitigation. He has successfully brought post-trial motions for new trial and motions for judgment as a matter of law, reducing or eliminating multi-million dollar judgments.
Clients have included a broad range of companies including Andersen Windows, Dell Inc., Gallo Wineries, GE, LG Display, Quanta Computers, and various Hutchison entities.
Experience
Appellate and Post-Trial Representations
Mr. Unger serves as a firm resource on questions of appellate and federal jurisdiction. Recent appellate and post-trial representations include:
- Representing an OEM to eliminate 90% of a verdict in a multi-million dollar patent dispute;
- Representing a manufacturer in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court;
- Representing a telephone conglomerate before the Federal Circuit to defend a personal jurisdiction dismissal; and
- Representing a manufacturer of windows to defend denial of class certification before the California Court of Appeal.
Consumer Class Action and Competition Representations
Mr. Unger’s recent representations in high-exposure consumer class actions and antitrust disputes include:
- Representing a manufacturer in successfully opposing class certification in a consumer dispute;
- Representing a components manufacturer in antitrust MDL proceedings, including successfully briefing various summary judgment motions; and
- Representing a lender in negotiating and implementing class settlement in suit challenging debt-collection practices.
Education
Mr. Unger received a B.A. degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of California, Berkeley. He received a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Prior Legal Experience
- Served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard S. Arnold of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the Honorable Boyce F. Martin, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; and
- Served as an adjunct professor of law at University of Arkansas, Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law.