Arturo González is chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Commercial Litigation and Trial Practice Group and a former co-chair of our Litigation Department. He is a trial lawyer who specializes in high-stakes, bet-the-company litigation.

Mr. González has successfully defended three trials where the plaintiffs sought more than $1 billion in damages, including a trade secrets case on behalf of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. That lawsuit was filed by Silvaco Data Systems, and when the case did not settle, Cypress turned to Mr. González to try it. In another, he represented a national bank in a class action trial. The bank prevailed on all claims but one and the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of the bank on that claim. His third billion-dollar case was representing a former member of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum board of directors sued for fraud by the Oakland Raiders. The jury returned a defense verdict for the director.

Mr. González has also won four verdicts in excess of $10 million. In 2010, he won a $10.8 million jury verdict in a breach-of-duty and trade secrets case, including a finding that multiple defendants acted willfully. He also won a $36.3 million verdict in April 2009 in a trial involving medical robotics, where the jury found that the defendant willfully misappropriated trade secrets and breached two contracts. In 2012, he obtained a $60 million verdict in a wrongful death trial, and in 2004, he obtained a $12.5 million verdict in a civil rights trial. 

Judges have praised Mr. González’s trial skills: “the quality of written work product . . . was of the highest level,” and “the trial advocacy skills were superior.” Another judge described his trial skills as “phenomenal.”

Mr. González has been consistently recognized by his peers and in legal publications. He was honored in The National Law Journal’s 2009 “Winning” Special Report, which recognizes 10 of the country’s top trial lawyers. From 2010-2014, he was selected as one of the country’s top 30 trial lawyers by Legal 500 US, which described Mr. González as “[i]ncredibly impressive on his feet, great storyteller to the judge and jury, highly experienced,” and a “great leader.”Chambers USA recommends Mr. González as a general commercial litigator, noting that he is “[a] great advocate who quickly establishes a rapport with judges and juries.”

From 2006-2012, he was named by Daily Journal as one of California’s Top 100 leading lawyers, and he has been recommended as a leading lawyer by Best Lawyers in America from 2008-2014. In 2008, Mr. González was listed among the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America” by The National Law Journal, in 2003, The American Lawyer named him one of the nation’s top 45 lawyers under the age of 45, and in 1995, he was selected by The National Law Journal as one of the nation’s top 40 lawyers under the age of 40.

Mr. González is an associate with the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), and he served as the 2010 President of the Bar Association of San Francisco.