Munger, Tolles & Olson litigation partner Jonathan Blavin led a team representing Airbnb in a challenge to Boston's ordinance regulating short-term rentals and home-sharing platforms, which resulted in two provisions of the law being enjoined. Blavin teamed with partner Rosemarie Ring to head the firm's representation of Facebook in its global settlement of actions claiming that the company's advertising platform was discriminatory. Partners Kelly Klaus and Blanca Young won a copyright lawsuit against streaming service VidAngel for major Hollywood studios, while Carolyn Hoecker Luedtke won multiple significant trade secrets cases for Intel Corp. against former employees.

That resume landed Munger Tolles as one of six finalists for the Tech Litigation Department of the Year as part of The Recorder's California Leaders in Tech Law and Innovation Awards. The winner will be announced at a ceremony celebrating all winners and finalists Nov. 6. In the run-up to next month's announcement, The Recorder checked in with Blavin about how the firm is adapting to shifts in the market for litigation counsel.

The Recorder: What are the distinguishing characteristics of litigators that practice at Munger Tolles?

Jonathan Blavin: Munger Tolles litigators are among the most talented and adept at helping companies overcome their most daunting, high-stakes legal challenges. From Silicon Valley to Wall Street to Hollywood, we represent clients across a range of industries in litigation that threatens the reputation, economic stability, trade secrets and sometimes the very existence of our clients. Our litigators stay on the cutting edge of technological developments and how it impacts established and emerging areas of law. Clients regularly seek the counsel of our litigators, who are known for untangling the toughest issues, offering novel litigation strategies and connecting with juries and judges at trial. Munger Tolles litigators are widely recognized as brilliant problem solvers and fearsome trial opponents.

When a client comes to your firm for representation on a piece of litigation, what can they expect?

Clients who retain Munger Tolles can expect high-quality representation, characterized by novel strategies and creative thinking, from the nation's most talented legal practitioners. Clients will work with lawyers who are deeply knowledgeable about their client's business objectives, culture and risk tolerance and prepared to resolve the litigation in a way that is aligned with the client's goals. In addition, our firm's no-leverage model means that each matter would be staffed leanly, with significant partner involvement, to achieve the outcome the client seeks.

How does your firm gauge success on any particular litigation matter?

At the outset of every litigation matter, Munger Tolles lawyers work with our clients to define success, and then we devise a strategy to achieve our clients' goals. For some clients, success may mean a swift pretrial resolution or a favorable settlement, while others find value in taking a case to trial. Some clients want to send a message to future litigants, while others seek to define the contours of a nascent policy or protect their rights as players in an emerging industry. In every case, we help our clients construct a vision of success and litigate aggressively to make it a reality.

What ways is the business of litigation changing, and how are you adapting to those changes?

At its core, the business of litigation remains the same: Clients want strategic, high-value legal representation at a fair price. At the same time, law firms are under tremendous pressure as clients seek to reduce their legal spend and extract the most value from their legal service providers. They are embracing technology solutions and alternative legal service providers to assist with tasks like document review, legal research and discovery. Our firm regularly partners with and oversees the work of other law firms and service providers to deliver the highest-quality litigation defense in a cost-effective way. We also work frequently with clients to identify alternative fee structures that make sense for certain matters.

Clients are also increasingly evaluating law firms based on a shared commitment to diversity. We regularly track and report to clients about the diversity of our legal teams and how work will be allocated to diverse attorneys. We are proud to be a leader in diversity hiring, retention and promotion, consistently beating national averages in the number of women and diverse lawyers in our associate and partner ranks. In fact, Munger Tolles lawyers were part of the team that developed the Mansfield Rule, a program designed to boost the representation of diverse lawyers in leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities and senior lateral positions.