Joshua S. Lipshutz

Joshua S. Lipshutz serves as Partner & Chief Operating Officer of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He practices in the Firm’s Litigation Department, and the Appellate and Constitutional Law, Privacy and Cybersecurity, and Class Actions Practice Groups. Josh is a member of the Firm’s Executive and Management Committees.

Josh has been profiled by Law360 for his exceptional appellate experience (Appellate Practice Group of the Year), recognized as a Cybersecurity and Data Privacy MVP in 2019, and recognized as a Technology MVP in 2023. The National Law Journal profiled Josh in both the General Litigation and Labor & Employment categories. Benchmark Litigation has consistently recognized Josh on its Top 50 Labor & Employment Litigators list, and named him both a Labor and Employment Star and a Litigation Star. The Legal 500 United States has recognized him as a “Leading Lawyer” for Labor and Employment Disputes. Josh has also been recognized by Lawdragon, which identifies “advisors you want to send into battle,” as one of the 2024-2025 “500 Leading Litigators in America.”

Josh’s practice focuses primarily on constitutional, class action, data privacy, and securities-related matters. A sample of recent and ongoing representations include:

• Meta: Josh represents Meta in numerous data privacy-related matters, including a series of putative class actions and government enforcement actions arising out of the Cambridge Analytica events.
• DoorDash: Josh represents DoorDash in a series of putative class actions and PAGA actions pending in California state and federal courts, asserting that DoorDash has misclassified delivery providers as independent contractors.
• CNN: Josh represented CNN and Jim Acosta in a dispute with President Trump regarding Mr. Acosta’s White House press credentials. He secured injunctive relief restoring the press pass and safeguarding the protections of the First Amendment.

Josh’s cases before the U.S. Supreme Court include the following:

• New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira: Sought to overturn a First Circuit ruling that the Federal Arbitration Act does not apply to independent contractors in the transportation sector.
• Daimler AG v. Bauman: Secured a unanimous victory for Daimler in a case setting new limitations on the jurisdiction of U.S. courts over foreign corporations.
• The Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles: Obtained a unanimous victory in the first Supreme Court decision to interpret the jurisdictional limits of the Class Action Fairness Act.
• Hollingsworth v. Perry: Restored marriage equality to California in a historic decision striking down California’s Proposition 8 as unconstitutional.

Prior to attending law school, Josh received his undergraduate degrees, summa cum laude, in finance and systems engineering, from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated Order of the Coif from Stanford Law School, where he was Senior Articles Editor of the Stanford Law Review. Josh served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Honorable Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before practicing law, Josh worked as a principal investment professional at Silver Lake Partners and as an investment banking associate at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Josh is admitted to practice law in the State of California, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Capabilities

• Appellate and Constitutional Law
• Class Actions
• Labor and Employment
• National Security
• Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Data Innovation
• Securities Litigation
• Tech and Innovation
• Technology Litigation
• Transnational Litigation

Credentials

Education:

• Stanford University - 2005 Juris Doctor
• University of Pennsylvania - 1999 Bachelor of Science

Admissions:

• California Bar
• District of Columbia Bar
• Massachusetts Bar

Clerkships:

• US Supreme Court, Hon. Antonin Scalia, 2006 - 2007
• US Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, Hon. Alex Kozinski, 2005 - 2006