Rob Begland is a partner in the firm's Los Angeles office and litigates a wide variety of complex commercial disputes. His cases often involve issues unique to Los Angeles's economy, ranging from copyright infringement doctrines (serving as amicus counsel in MGM v. Grokster, 380 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir. 2004)), to how movie licenses are bundled, and to how trade secrets are protected. But the majority of Mr. Begland's practice focuses on commercial interests broadly relevant to the U.S. and global economy.
He has a substantial expertise in the energy industry. Over the last several years, he has represented one of America's largest refiners in disputes relating to its crude oil supplies, its refinery operations, and its sales of both wholesale and retail motor fuel. He also currently represents an energy trading firm in several matters related to the biofuels market.
Mr. Begland has recently litigated several disputes through to judgment, achieving success for his clients:
- In 2012, he convinced an arbitrator that a client's Chief Operating Officer had breached fiduciary duties. Using computer forensics to recover deleted documents, Mr. Begland established that while interviewing with a competitor, the COO had divulged corporate strategy and identified key employees who should be hired away, violating his duty of loyalty.
- In 2012, he persuaded an arbitrator that his client did not breach any fiduciary duty, when it paid a multi-million dollar "promote" fee to sweat equity partners in a land development deal. One capital partner accused another of self-dealing and disloyalty, based on the decision to pay the fee. But the arbitrator ruled for Mr. Begland's clients and determined they were the "prevailing parties," allowing recovery of their attorneys fees.
- In 2009, and relying heavily on expert testimony, Mr. Begland established during arbitration that his client had not breached its executive compensation contract with its former CEO. The former CEO claimed he was owed millions of dollars, based on the enterprise value of the business. The former CEO charged the company had tainted an investment bank's valuation, by revealing some of its own valuations. And he also argued that the valuation premise and methods used by the investment bank were incorrect. Mr. Begland persuaded the arbitrator that the business was properly valued and that the former CEO was owed nothing.
Before practicing law, Mr. Begland worked in national defense, first serving as an officer in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and then working as a civilian adviser in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.