Author E. Hughes Career Achievement Award

School of Law

Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. ’87 (JD)

Partner, Gibson Dunn

Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., a partner in the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, is co-chair of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law Group, its Crisis Management Group, and its Media and Entertainment Group. He also is a member of the firm’s five-person global Management Committee.

During his career, Boutrous has successfully persuaded appellate courts to overturn some of the largest jury verdicts in history. In 2011, he convinced the Supreme Court of the United States to reverse one of the largest class actions of all time in the landmark case of Wal-Mart v. Dukes.

Boutrous also represents media organizations and reporters in a wide array of First Amendment matters. He frequently advises clients in responding, or planning to respond, to crises and other especially significant legal problems that attract the media spotlight.

The Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals have named Boutrous one of the 100 best lawyers in California for seven years in a row. Lawdragon named him to the 2011 guide to the 500 Leading Lawyers in America, calling him “One of the best media and appellate attorneys in the nation.” The American Lawyer magazine, which recently named Gibson Dunn “Litigation Department of the Year” for the second year in a row, has called Boutrous “a media law star.” The Los Angeles Business Journal described him as “one of the nation’s most prominent appellate attorneys” and the San Francisco Recorder named him one of the 2011 and 2009 Attorneys of the Year.

Boutrous received his law degree, summa cum laude, from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1987, where he was valedictorian and editor-in-chief of the San Diego Law Review.