Mr. O’Brien is a litigator and an economist. He has extensive experience in litigation, and specializes in complex commercial and regulatory matters, particularly those involving economic or statistical analyses. He also specializes in emergency remedies, including temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions. O’Brien also has substantial experience with commercial arbitrations.
In addition to his legal career, Mr. O’Brien pursues his interest as an economist, serving as an adjunct professor teaching “Law and Economics” courses among others. He has taught undergraduate, graduate and law school students at St. Louis University and undergraduates at Washington University.
He was law clerk for the Honorable Sidney A. Fitzwater, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, from 1991 to 1992.
Representative Experience
- Continuously represents a franchisor in numerous disputes with franchisees, including arbitrations, mediations, injunctive relief hearings. These matters generally involve non-payment or under-reporting issues and require some level of forensic accounting.
- Tried the damages portion of an ERISA and executive compensation lawsuit in federal court, representing a Fortune 500 company in a dispute with former executives over their non-qualified cash-balance pension plans.
- Represents a Fortune 500 client in a series of antitrust class action matters involving price-fixing in the agriculture technology industry. Mr. O’Brien is heavily involved in the economic analysis regarding class certification (which was successfully defeated in the first pending matter) and he maintains a lead role with the economic and damages experts.
- Represented the creditors’ committee in the challenge to the bankruptcy plan confirmation for a major bankruptcy matter. The objections to plan confirmation centered around executive compensation issues and Mr. O’Brien took a lead role in examining the investment banking analyses of the debtor as well as the executive compensation packages being proposed by the debtor and the debtor’s expert witnesses.
- Led the damages team for the plaintiff in a large monopolization matter involving computer platforms, software and server technology. The matter ultimately settled for approximately $2 billion.
- Represented a Fortune 50 client as the lead trial lawyer on damages in a contract dispute over the development of a medical device and FDA regulatory approval for the device.
- Defended a supplier of industrial electrical equipment in a 3-week jury trial regarding franchise/distribution matter where the damages allegations entailed lost profits and business valuation issues. A defense verdict for the majority of the claims at stake was affirmed on appeal, and the punitive damages award on the remaining claims was substantially reduced. Mr. O’Brien was lead trial lawyer and lead lawyer on the appeal.
- Defended a number of hospitals in a nationwide qui tam lawsuit and in ongoing civil investigations regarding allegations of overbilling the Medicare program. In these cases, the government’s primary evidence is generated from statistical sampling methods, and the cases involved detailed analysis of Medicare reimbursement formulas and mechanisms.