Alex Bergjans is a Partner in Quinn Emanuel’s Los Angeles office. He has tried nearly 20 cases to verdict or award at trial and arbitration—including securing complete defense victories in some of the highest profile civil jury trials of the last half decade. Alex represents a diverse roster of clients (from Fortune 100 companies and notable individuals to start-ups), has demonstrated mastery in a wide variety of practice areas, and has delivered wins to his clients at every stage of litigation from motions to dismiss to appeals. Because of his combination of ability and trial experience, Alex is regularly brought into cases at the eve of trial to handle the most difficult legal issues and sensitive witnesses.
Alex has tried a wide variety of high-stakes cases, with hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in dispute, across many practice areas including commercial matters, securities fraud, employment discrimination, personal injury, and defamation. Alex was a key member of the trial team that obtained a complete defense verdict in In re Tesla Securities Litigation for Elon Musk, Tesla, and Tesla’s board of directors and helped secure the verdict following an appeal to the Ninth Circuit. Weeks after that victory, Alex successfully represented Tesla in the damages-only retrial of an employment discrimination case that resulted in a more than $130 million reduction in damages. Alex was also a key member of the trial team that secured a complete defense verdict for Elon Musk in a 2019 defamation suit arising from Tweets Mr. Musk posted regarding a participant in the 2018 Thai cave rescue. In addition to jury wins, Alex also successfully represented the University of Southern California in a wrongful termination and disability discrimination employment arbitration brought by its former head football coach.
Alex also maintains an active appellate practice, with a focus on handling post-trial appeals. Alex has also successfully secured victories for his clients before trial through dispositive motion practice and aggressive discovery leading to favorable settlements. Alex also specializes in navigating start-ups, early stage companies, and their leadership through the litigation process and provides strategic guidance to those with less experience and familiarity with litigation.
Alex previously worked in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office’s Consumer Protection Unit where he first-chaired criminal trials and led complex civil investigations and litigation, including an investigation that resulted in one of nation’s the largest civil judgments for COVID-19 testing fraud.
- BAE Systems
- Tesla
- Elon Musk
- University of Southern California
- Missouri State Employee's Retirement System
- Menzies Aviation
- X (formerly Twitter, Inc.)
- Tyler Perry
- Kim Kardashian
- Kris Jenner
- Pharrell Williams
- DIRECTV
- Varda Space Industries
- Obtained full defense verdict for Elon Musk, Tesla, and its Board of Directors in a 2023 securities fraud class action trial in San Francisco. The case related to Elon Musk’s tweets in August 2018 that he was considering taking Tesla private and that funding was “secured.” The Plaintiff class was seeking recovery from what they claimed was more than $12 billion in investor losses. This was the first defense-side jury verdict for a company in a securities class action in over 15 years. Secured an affirmance of the judgment on appeal.
- Represented Elon Musk in groundbreaking defamation case arising out of statements on Twitter. Was key part of trial team that obtained a complete jury verdict in client’s favor and avoided plaintiff’s claim for $190 million in alleged damages.
- Obtained a complete defense verdict for Menzies Aviation in a racial harassment employment case. Critical for the defense was illustrating that Plaintiff’s claims were not credible and instead had been manufactured (and enhanced over time) for litigation purposes only when he knew that his job was threatened due to his inability to obtain documentation required for airport employees. Through cross examination, Plaintiff was caught in multiple inconsistencies and untruths. In sharp contrast to Plaintiff and his witnesses, HR witness credibly explained the Company’s zero tolerance policy, process for submitting complaints, and that they never had been made aware of any purported complaint by Plaintiff. The plaintiff dismissed 10 out of his 11 claims on the eve of trial, and at the trial, after less than two hours, the jury returned a complete defense verdict. Secured a directed verdict on punitive damages before the jury deliberated liability.
- Defended Tesla in a California federal court retrial of the largest single plaintiff race discrimination verdict in U.S. history. The plaintiff alleged he was subject to racial discrimination while working as an operator at a Tesla factory. Initially, a successful remittitur was achieved, reducing the original $137 million verdict (comprised of approximately $7 million in compensatory damages and $130 million in punitive damages) to a total of $15 million. The plaintiff rejected the $15 million remittitur and proceeded to a damages retrial. Based on the liability verdict from the first trial, the Court instructed the jury that it had to award both compensatory and punitive damages. Following a week-long trial which was largely limited to the same evidence that was presented to the jury in the first trial, damages awarded were reduced by 98% to $175,000 in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages.
- Obtained a complete victory for the University of Southern California following a 7 day arbitration against its former head football coach Steve Sarkisian. Sarkisian was terminated with cause in October 2015 after a series of public incidents involving his apparent use of alcohol and resulting media speculation. After being terminated and completing inpatient rehabilitation treating, Sarkisian—claiming he was improperly terminated due to his alcoholism—brought claims against USC for wrongful termination, disability discrimination, failure to engage in the interactive process, failure to accommodate, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, invasion of privacy, and negligence. Sarkisian sought over $30 million from USC. The arbitrator denied each of Sarkisian’s claims, resulting in a judgment in USC’s favor.
- Obtained a dismissal with prejudice of a securities class action against Elon Musk seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages arising from certain alleged misconduct in connection with Mr. Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, Inc.
- Obtained a voluntary dismissal with prejudice of an individual falsely accused of sex trafficking and RICO as part of an alleged scheme involving elite Dallas society.
- Appellate Practice
- Artificial Intelligence
- Class Action and Mass Arbitration Group
- Construction Litigation
- Copyright Litigation
- Crisis Law & Strategy Group
- Domestic U.S. Arbitration
- Employment Litigation
- Entertainment & Media Litigation
- Health Care Litigation
- Internet Litigation
- Litigation Representing Plaintiffs
- Securities Litigation
- Sexual Harassment & Employment Discrimination
- Sports Litigation
- Trade Secret Litigation
- Trademark, Trade Dress, Unfair Competition/False Advertising, and Publicity Rights Litigation
- Georgetown University Law Center
(J.D., cum laude, 2014)- Dean's List
- Northwestern University
(B.S., Journalism and Political Science, 2010)- Dean's List
- The State Bar of California
- Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney
- Deputy City Attorney, 2020-2022
- Ranked by The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch for Commercial Litigation & Intellectual Property Law, 2024-2025