Aaron Thompson

Aaron Thompson represents companies and individuals in both high-stakes commercial litigation and prelitigation business disputes and counseling. With a sharp eye for the details of the case, knack for creative thinking, and command of both technological and economic concepts, Aaron has defended his clients’ interests and protected them from hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. His litigation and dispute counseling experience spans a broad range of industry sectors, including private equity, technology, life sciences, cannabis, and REITs. Through his work, Aaron has developed experience in a broad array of technologies, including smartphone architecture, cloud-based entertainment services, wireless communication protocols and standards (LTE, 5G, 802.11), digital video encoding and streaming technology and standards, and error correcting codes. Aaron’s work has included handling disputes related to patents, trade secrets, copyrights, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity matters.

In addition to his billable work, Aaron actively volunteers his time providing pro bono representation to a variety of clients in immigration and voting rights matters. Aaron has also been an active member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Aaron has represented a variety of companies in complex commercial litigation including in securities litigation, antitrust litigation, and intellectual property litigation. This includes litigating four patent litigation or securities litigation matters through to final jury verdicts.

Aaron’s representative matters include:

• Representing an international cohort of preeminent medical researchers as amici curiae before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in support of a petition to reschedule psilocybin to Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)
• Representing a self-driving automobile engineer before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit relating to novel tax and bankruptcy law issues
• Representing housing law and policy scholars as amici curiae before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in support of New York City’s Rent Stabilization Law*
• Defending a patent infringement jury trial in the Northern District of California and successfully winning a full dismissal by a motion seeking judgment notwithstanding the verdict*
• Defending a patent infringement jury trial in the Northern District of California between two major smartphone companies and successfully winning a finding of noninfringement by the jury*
• Successfully defending two executives of a real estate investment trust in a jury trial in the District of New Mexico against allegations of securities fraud and auditor deception by the Securities Exchange Commission*
• Defending a major semiconductor designer, developer, and manufacturer, and a major smartphone company in a patent infringement jury trial in the Central District of California*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Aaron has held numerous leadership positions in the Los Angeles County Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. Aaron is the Treasurer of the Judge Paul R. Michel Intellectual Property American Inn of Court for the 2022-2023 term.

Aaron has been recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for Litigation - Intellectual Property, and was named a Super Lawyers Southern California Rising Star in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. He was also included in the 2024 edition of the Legal 500 US for his work in Trade Secrets.

Co-Author, “Civil Rico Lawsuits: Should the State-Legal Cannabis Industry Be Concerned?,” Cannabis Business Times, September 28, 2022