G. Charles “Chip” Nierlich III ’94
Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP
G. Charles “Chip” Nierlich is a partner in the San Francisco office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, an international law firm with more than 1,100 lawyers and 18 offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He is a member of Gibson Dunn’s Litigation Department, which has been recognized twice by The American Lawyer as the winner of the biennial “Litigation Department of the Year” competition (in 2010 and 2012). Mr. Nierlich is also a member of the Steering Committee of Gibson Dunn’s Class Action Practice Group, as well as a practice group leader for the firm’s Electronic Discovery and Information Law Practice Group.
Mr. Nierlich’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, including defending class actions and antitrust, unfair competition, and deceptive trade practice claims. He is the co-author of the Unfair Competition Law chapter of the California State Bar Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section treatise, as well as numerous articles on class action practice. He has represented a number of well-known and innovative companies, including Amazon.com, Apple, Chevron, CytoSport (maker of the popular Muscle Milk protein products), Micron Technology, and Nissan North America.
Mr. Nierlich’s work has been recognized by numerous publications. He was recently named one of the “Top Forty Under 40” emerging business leaders (and one of only five lawyers on the list) by the San Francisco Business Times. Law 360 identified Mr. Nierlich as one of five top class action attorneys in the country under 40, and he has been recognized multiple times as a top litigator by Super Lawyers and in Institutional Investor’s Benchmark Litigation Guide.
Mr. Nierlich received his undergraduate degree (B.A.), magna cum laude, from Claremont McKenna College in 1994 and his law degree (J.D.), magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1997. Prior to working at Gibson Dunn, Mr. Nierlich was a Judicial Clerk for the Honorable Morris S. Arnold in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (1997-1998) and then a litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis (1998-2001).