Amir Nassihi > Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP > San Francisco, United States > Lawyer Profile

Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP
ONE MONTGOMERY TOWER, SUITE 2700
120 KEARNY STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104-4505
CALIFORNIA
United States

Work Department

Class Action & Appellate Litigation

Position

Partner and Co-Chair, Class Action & Appellate Litigation Practice Group

Career

Amir is the national co-chair of Shook’s Class Action Practice Group and co-leads Shook’s Automotive Industry Group. His practice is primarily dedicated to defending companies in class actions and aggregated litigation. In that area, Amir is recognized as one of the leading products class action lawyers in the U.S., and regularly speaks on strategies to defend high stakes class actions.

Amir has led the defense of over 150 class actions throughout the U.S., including successfully leading the defense of class actions with multibillion dollar exposure. He has defended national and international class actions in the U.S., Australia, Canada and Israel. In the U.S., Amir has led teams to successfully dispose of class actions in California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.

In securing positive results, Amir has helped pioneer favorable law in a number of areas, including personal jurisdiction challenges in class actions, class waiver arbitration clauses, developing limitations on consumer fraud and common law fraud theories, and curtailing injunctive relief classes. Amir has also helped develop the law to limit the impact of challenging state consumer protection laws such as California’s Unfair Competition and False Advertising Laws (Business & Professions Code § 17200 and § 17500).

Based on his class litigation acumen, Amir serves in a national class counsel role for six product manufacturers and distributors. He also regularly defends other companies in regional and specialty class action roles.

Beyond traditional class actions, Amir also serves as lead counsel in mass and aggregated litigation, including JCCP and MDL proceedings, and in managing class opt-out litigation and mass arbitrations.

Memberships

  • American Bar Association, Tort, Trial & Insurance Practice Section; Litigation Section
  • Bar Association of San Francisco
  • California Minority Counsel Program
  • Defense Research Institute

Education

  • L.P.C. Legal Practices University of the West of England, Bristol 1998
  • LL.B Law University of the West of England, Bristol 1997

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: automotive/transport

Appreciated for its ‘thoughtful approach’ and ‘excellent judgment on how to handle overall case strategy’, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP has a strong reputation among leading automotive companies across a range of product liability class actions and MDL. Much of this work is led from its California offices, where the team has developed notable expertise in cases alleging traditional product defects, as well as an increasing volume of mandates involving autonomous driving systems. ‘Highly skilled’ San Francisco-based litigator Amir Nassihi has secured favorable results for clients at trial and the appellate level through persuasive argument of issues issues including personal jurisdiction challenges and class waiver arbitration clauses. Also based in San Francisco, Amy Alexander, who joined the firm in September 2023 from Gordon & Rees, enhances its already strong reputation in issues facing autonomous vehicles, joining the ranks of expert litigators including Frank Kelly and Amy Maclear. Orange County-based Janet Hickson and Los Angeles-based Michael Mallow (who is ‘very creative in developing strategies to defeat class actions‘) co-head the overarching automotive and machinery litigation team, while the arrival of numerous accomplished litigators from Herzfeld & Rubin, P.C., including Michael Gallub and Homer Ramsey, enhances the firm’s ability to handle mandates from its New York office.