James Penrod is senior counsel in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice. Mr. Penrod is an engineering graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a law graduate of The George Washington University. He began his career in New York on Wall Street working on antitrust and business litigation for corporate clients such as American Cyanamid (Tetracycline cases), Hughes Aircraft and Howard Hughes (TWA antitrust case), Walt Disney Productions (Tax Litigation Re film archives), Investors Diversified Services, Allegheny Corporation and Pittston company.
Mr. Penrod has litigated and tried cases for over 30 years for a wide variety of companies including: banking and financial institutions (class actions and lender liability cases), medical cases (malpractice and tort cases), drug cases (aspirin, prednisone, antibiotics, birth control pills), medical devices (pedicle screws, artificial hips, heart valves, heart surgery devices), health coverage claims (Blue Shield, Blue Cross), chemical cases (DBCP), toxic and mass torts (asbestos, breast implants, DBCP contamination, e-coli contamination) intellectual property (thin film technology, chip manufacturing and photolithography technology, DSL technology, fiberoptic technology, high molecular weight polyethylene technology for artificial joints), insurance coverage cases, and cases involving RICO claims.
Mr. Penrod has tried over 50 jury trials to verdict and many court trials to judgment.
Recent notable trials include insurance coverage trial which was settled for $2.2 billion. In October 2001, Mr. Penrod won an arbitration award for Cisco Systems in the amount of $9.7 million. In the Fall of 2000, he tried a several week preliminary injunction case in New Jersey concerning DSL technology. He tried a $200 million lender liability case and obtained a defense verdict for the bank and an award of $10 million for the bank on a fraudulent transfer cross-complaint.
Mr. Penrod has handled several cases involving high-profile media exposure and public relations (e.g., Swinerton & Walberg crane collapse case in San Francisco, Nike foreign factory worker cases, Gap Saipan factory cases, Oakland Raiders v City of Oakland, Oakland Police Excessive Force cases, FrostBan case involving DNA alteration of bacteria) including a record plaintiff's jury verdict for a legal malpractice case against former San Francisco Mayor Joseph L. Alioto. Mr. Penrod has represented Office Depot in connection with a 17200 case involving their merger with The Office Club Inc., as well as a discrimination case involving the acceptance of personal checks.
Mr. Penrod is listed in The Best Lawyers in America under three categories (tort litigation, business litigation and professional liability) and is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates.
Mr. Penrod has spoken and taught widely on various subjects of litigation and trial. He is admitted to practice in California and New York and before the U.S. Supreme Court.
