Howard Holderness

Partner

Howard Holderness is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice and chair of the San Francisco Hiring Committee. Mr. Holderness litigates complex commercial disputes on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants, including fraud, breach of contract, antitrust, product liability, false advertising, unfair business practices, insurance coverage, and class action claims. His clients have included some of Silicon Valley's largest technology companies, as well as individuals and smaller companies.

Mr. Holderness has represented a leading supplier of Internet networking equipment in California state court litigation involving trade secrets and breach of fiduciary duty. He also has defended a leading software vendor in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against a consumer class action alleging false advertisement.

Mr. Holderness has a background in prelitigation counseling and civil litigation before trial, including complex electronic discovery issues, as well as trying complex cases before both judges and juries. 

Mr. Holderness is also a member of the firm's Fixed Fee Billing Initiative, which includes more than $20 million in fixed-fee litigation, and co-manager of the firm's largest fixed-fee client arrangement. Mr. Holderness also has served as Hiring Partner in the San Francisco office since 2003.

Mr. Holderness is admitted to practice in California and before the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southern Districts of California and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He also has been admitted pro hac vice for various matters in Arizona, Mississippi, Utah, Nevada, and other states.