Brian M. Wheeler

Brian Wheeler is Chair of the firm’s Commercial and Complex Litigation Practice Group.  He also leads the firm’s Intellectual Property and Data Privacy practices within the Practice Group, overseeing AALRR’s team of experienced attorneys in intellectual property and data privacy matters.  His practice focuses on intellectual property, data security and privacy, and high-stakes complex commercial litigation, water litigation, and white collar defense and investigations. He has significant experience representing companies and organizations in intellectual property matters and all aspects of business litigation and pre-litigation counseling in myriad substantive areas of the law.

Mr. Wheeler’s intellectual property practice focuses on litigation in the areas of trademark, trade dress, copyright, trade secrets, and patent litigation. His data security and privacy practice focuses on CCPA compliance and litigation. He also regularly advises and represents clients in the area of employee mobility and unfair competition, with a particular emphasis on the intersection between intellectual property and employment law. Mr. Wheeler and his Intellectual Property Team also advise clients in trademark and copyright clearance, prosecution, policing, and licensing.

In his general business litigation practice, Mr. Wheeler represents private businesses and organizations of all sizes in all types of business and contract disputes. He also has experience in labor and employment litigation, including unfair labor practices and traditional labor disputes, wage and hour class actions, and PAGA. He has gained unique litigation experience in the international shipping industry, representing international container shipping lines and major domestic marine terminal operators.

Mr. Wheeler also has significant experience in water litigation and real property litigation, including complex and high-stakes water-related litigation for public agencies in Southern California, wildfire litigation on behalf of major public utility companies in Northern and Southern California, and myriad real property litigation for private property owners and commercial landlords and tenants. He is also a licensed California real estate broker.

Mr. Wheeler regularly represents clients in both federal and state court, as well as in administrative hearings. He also has extensive alternative dispute resolution experience, including arbitrations and scores of successful mediations.

Mr. Wheeler’s white collar and regulatory defense and investigations experience includes domestic and cross-border criminal investigations, civil enforcement actions, and regulatory investigations and litigation.

In March 2020, Mr. Wheeler was appointed Chairperson of the Firm’s newly established COVID-19 Task Force of attorneys across legal disciplines and practice groups to study the pandemic and its legal implications for our clients. For more information on the Firm’s COVID-19 Task Force and the resources the Firm has developed to help navigate its clients through these unprecedented times, visit the Firm’s COVID-19 Resource Page at https://www. aalrr. com/newsroom-alerts-COVID19.

Prior to joining AALRR, Mr. Wheeler practiced at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in Los Angeles for several years.

Honors & Recognitions

Mr. Wheeler has been named a “Rising Star” by Southern California Super Lawyers each year since 2017. Rising Stars are exceptional Southern California attorneys who are 40 years old or younger or who have been practicing law for ten years or less. They are selected based on peer evaluations and independent research regarding the attorneys’ professional achievements.  Only 2.5 percent of attorneys are recognized as Rising Stars.

• Cooper Drum Cooperating Parties Group v. American Polymers Corporation, et al., CV 19-03007-AB, 2020 WL 2504331 (C.D. Cal. May 13, 2020)
• SPS Techs., LLC v. Briles Aerospace, Inc., 2019 WL 1974902 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 11, 2019)

• City of San Buenaventura v. United Water Conservation Dist., 2019 WL 1009805 (Cal. Ct. App. Mar. 4, 2019)

• Hardy-Mahoney ex rel. NLRB v. Everport Terminal Services Inc., 2017 WL 1092325 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 23, 2017)
• Regents of the University of California v. Aisen, 2016 WL 4096078 (S.D. Cal. Apr. 22, 2016)
• United States v. One Gulfstream G-V Jet Aircraft, 304 F.R.D. 10 (D.D.C. 2014)
• Perkin v. San Diego Gas & Electric Company, 225 Cal. App. 4th 492 (2014)
• United States v. One White Crystal Covered Bad Tour Glove and Other Michael Jackson Memorabilia, 2012 WL 8455336 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 12, 2012) and 2013 WL 12196588 (C.D. Cal. June 20, 2013)
• Tradebay, LLC v. eBay, Inc., 278 F.R.D. 597 (D. Nev. 2011)
• Mattel, Inc. v. MGA Entertainment, Inc., 782 F. Supp. 2d 911 (C.D. Cal. 2011)

Practice Areas

Community & Professional

• J. Reuben Clark Law Society, Los Angeles County Chapter, Member