This past year Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher won a $3 billion verdict for HP against Oracle at trial in Santa Clara Superior Court, a sanctions order terminating a case against client AEW Capital Management, and a more than $37 million verdict for Aetna Inc. in an overbilling case against a group of Bay Area surgical centers. That record landed the firm, a perennial litigation power, a runner-up spot in The Recorder's 2017 Litigation Department of the Year competition.

Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., the global co-chair of the firm's litigation group, recently told The Recorder about the firm's creative approach to litigating clients' toughest cases.

What do each of the cases the firm is being recognized for demonstrate about Gibson Dunn's litigation capacities? When we get involved in a case—for the plaintiff or defendant and at whatever stage, at the very beginning, on the brink of trial or on appeal after a large verdict—we have one thing in mind: How can we score the quickest, most decisive victory possible for our clients? In other words, we try to successfully end cases for our clients. It may sound simplistic, but it works.