Samuel Eckman

Samuel Eckman is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm's Appellate and Constitutional Law and Class Actions practice groups.

Samuel has been recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for Appellate Practice (2022-2024), and by Benchmark Litigation as a “Future Star” (2025).

Samuel’s recent representations include:

• Obtaining a unanimous victory from the United States Supreme Court in an action seeking over $20 billion in damages.  Comcast Corp. v. National Association of African American-Owned Media, 589 U.S. 327 (2020).
• Winning a landmark ruling in the United States Supreme Court upholding the City of Grants Pass, Oregon’s public-camping laws in a case of widespread importance for local governments across the country grappling with the homelessness crisis.  City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, 144 S.Ct. 2202 (2024).
• Persuading the California Supreme Court to unanimously reverse a Court of Appeal decision limiting the authority of trial courts to impose monetary sanctions for discovery misconduct.  City of Los Angeles v. PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, 17 Cal.5th 46 (2024).
• Slashing a $350 million punitive damages award by 95% on post-trial motions in the Central District of California, and winning complete vacatur on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.  Bahamas Surgery Center, LLC v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 2018 WL 11274489 (C.D. Cal. 2018); Bahamas Surgery Center, LLC v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 820 F. App’x 563 (9th Cir. 2020).
• Reducing a $30 million punitive damages award by 67% to $10 million on post-trial motions in a wrongful-termination case in the Los Angeles Superior Court. 
• Securing precedent-setting decisions in the Third and Ninth Circuits holding that rideshare drivers are not exempt from arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act’s transportation-worker exemption.  Capriole v. Uber Techs., Inc., 7 F.4th 854 (9th Cir. 2021); Singh v. Uber Techs., Inc., 67 F.4th 550 (2023).

Before joining the firm, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Honorable Alex Kozinski, then-Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Samuel graduated with high honors from The University of Chicago Law School in 2013. While there, he served as editor-in-chief of The University of Chicago Law Review, and was selected as a Kirkland & Ellis Scholar and as a member of the Order of the Coif. He also was awarded a John M. Olin Student Fellowship in Law and Economics, and a Bradley Family Foundation Fellowship.

Capabilities

• Appellate and Constitutional Law
• Class Actions
• Labor and Employment
• Litigation

Credentials

Education:

• University of Chicago - 2013 Juris Doctor
• University of Pittsburgh - 2008 Bachelor of Science
• University of Pittsburgh - 2008 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• California Bar

Clerkships:

• US Supreme Court, Hon. Antonin Scalia, 2014 - 2015
• US Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, Hon. Alex Kozinski, 2013 - 2014