Author E. Hughes Career Achievement Award

School of Law

Jeffrey T. Thomas ’82 (JD)

Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Jeffrey T. Thomas, a partner in the Orange County office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, joined the firm in 1983, after serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Gerald Brown, presiding justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District. Thomas is a co-chair of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group and a member of its IP and Antitrust Practice Groups.

Thomas has successfully litigated significant intellectual property and complex business cases. He recently served as lead trial counsel for Hewlett-Packard Co. in a significant matter against Oracle in which HP achieved a complete victory after trial.

Thomas received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of California, San Diego, in 1979. He graduated magna cum laude in 1982 from USD School of Law, where he served as comments editor of the San Diego Law Review.

Thomas was the 2007-08 president of USD’s Law Alumni Board and currently serves on the law school’s Board of Visitors.

He was named to the Daily Journal’s 2010 75 Leading IP Litigators. He was selected by the Southern California legal community for the 2009-2013 editions of The Best Lawyers in America; was recently named one of the Top 50 Lawyers in Orange County by Los Angeles Magazine; and, in September 2013, was named one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal.

Thomas and his wife, Lysa, have three children, Connor, Karly and Delaney.