Christopher J. Banks is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice, and a trial lawyer specializing in complex commercial matters. Mr. Banks was named a 2011 Attorney of the Year by The Recorder for his work first-chairing Morgan Lewis's trial team that secured a $415 million judgment (after first obtaining a $577 million jury verdict) for client Asahi Kasei Pharma Corp. Mr. Banks and his partners represented Asahi in a three-month, San Mateo County state court jury trial in 2011 on claims that the defendant company fraudulently and intentionally interfered with the development of a promising therapeutic agent owned by Asahi. The jury verdict and judgment they obtained rank among the largest in the nation for 2011. Mr. Banks and his partners have also successfully represented Asahi in Actelion’s appeal, with the California Court of Appeals upholding the judgment in late 2013.
Mr. Banks has over a decade of trial experience, with particular focus on jury trials and on representing clients in the information technology and biopharmaceutical industries with disputes related to unfair business practices, intellectual property, antitrust, breach of contract, employee raiding, and non-competition issues. He is designated a “Superlawyer” by Northern California Super Lawyers and was selected as one of the twenty best attorneys in California under 40 years of age by the Daily Journal in 2013.
Mr. Banks has played a key role on numerous Morgan Lewis trial teams, including the successful prosecution of claims for a pharmaceutical company in an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration in 2009 that culminated in an award of $91 million. In 2008, he helped successfully defend a financial institution on damages retrial, convincing a jury to award no damages against a defendant that had already been found to have willfully and maliciously misappropriated trade secrets. He also participated in obtaining a midtrial client defense decision in a 2005 case involving a $450 million claim for misappropriation of corporate opportunity, among other claims.
Mr. Banks received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2001. He earned his M.A., with distinction, in international affairs from The George Washington University in 1997, and his B.A., cum laude, from the University of Nebraska in 1994.
Mr. Banks is admitted to practice in California and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of California.
