Christopher Tayback

Christopher Tayback is a nationally recognized trial lawyer who has led more than 40 jury trials, tried countless bench trials and handled more than 40 appeals before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In all, he has tried or arbitrated more than 100 cases – civil and criminal – in jurisdictions across the country. A former state and federal prosecutor, he received numerous awards from the various federal, state and local law enforcement agencies with which he worked. Tayback joined Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP after leaving the public sector, and he now Co-Managing Partner of the firm’s Los Angeles office. Tayback’s experience as a trial lawyer covers a breathtaking variety of practice areas and subjects, including antitrust, consumer class actions, criminal defense, employment matters, environmental cases, fraud, and patent and intellectual property litigation. In 2005, he led a 15-week trial against for infringement of prepaid wireless telephone systems and methods, winning what was then the largest jury verdict ($128 million) in Massachusetts history. A former child actor, Tayback is the son of a revered television and movie actor, the late Vic Tayback (who played Mel on the sitcom “Alice” in the 1970s and ‘80s.) Appropriately, in one of his trials, he represented the Academy of Motion Pictures at trial in a dispute over the Academy’s right of first refusal to reacquire Academy Award statuettes – in this case, those awarded to Mary Pickford, one of the founders of the Academy — rather than have them auctioned.