James F. Basile, P.C.
Overview
Jim Basile is a partner in Kirkland's Bay Area office. He has spent thirty-three years as a trial lawyer, was a founding partner of Kirkland's San Francisco office and head of Kirkland's Bay Area litigation practice for over a decade. He is the partner in charge of Kirkland's Firmwide trial advocacy program and litigation attorney training program (the Kirkland Institute for Trial Advocacy).
Jim is a seasoned litigator with a diverse practice focusing on high-profile, complex litigation and its business and public relations implications for some of the nation's most prominent corporations, including winning a landmark antitrust case on behalf of Facebook, defeating monopolization claims regarding its on-line advertising policies; winning dismissal of collusive cartel bidding claims against the private equity purchasers of Del Monte Foods; representing the world's largest law firm against tort claims arising from the dissolution of the Brobeck, Phleger firm and handling a wide variety of class actions on behalf of JPMorgan Chase, Discover Financial and 24 Hour Fitness. Additionally, Jim has handled two of the most important recent plaintiff defamation cases: General Motors v. NBC and Chiquita Brands v. Gannett.
Jim has special experience in securities matters. He acted as Morgan Stanley's National Coordinating Counsel for stock option litigation arising out of the tech bubble, and won a complete defense award in the largest retail securities claim ever brought against Morgan Stanley. He has wide experience in shareholder, merger and take-private litigation, having represented major Bay Area private equity firms such as Golden Gate Capital, Thoma Bravo and FTV Capital and many of their portfolio companies. He also has broad experience in advising boards, directors and officers on fiduciary duty issues.
Jim was named one of America's Leading Lawyers for Business by Chambers, USA, has been listed as a "Super Lawyer" by Super Lawyers magazine and was also recognized in Legal 500 U.S. for M&A: Litigation. Clients for whom he has acted as lead counsel include, among others: Abbott Laboratories, American Financial Corp., B. Braun Medical, Inc., Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells, Coca Cola Enterprises, Chiquita Brands, Facebook, Fisher Investments, General Motors Corp., Golden Gate Partners, Honeywell International, Inc., Morgan Stanley, Qwest Communications, Siemens Corp., Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Thoma Bravo, 24 Hour Fitness, UBS Financial Services, United Airlines and Van Kampen. He has acted as trial counsel in both individual and class action suits involving securities, product liability, business contracts/fraud, antitrust, intellectual property/trade practices, SEC regulatory and backdating issues, defamation and labor. Jim also has represented clients in regulatory and litigation matters involving the DOJ, EPA, FTC, SEC, NHTSA, and FINRA.
Jim is admitted to the District of Columbia, California and New York Bars and is a member of the Bars of the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 9th and D.C. Circuits as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. Jim has served in many leadership roles for the Firm, including ten years as a member of the Firm's Finance Committee.
Experience
Representative Matters
Sambreel v. Facebook (S.D. Cal.) — Defeated preliminary injunction motion and won complete dismissal of antitrust complaint alleging that Facebook's policies and practices related to online advertisers constituted monopolization and attempted monopolization under the antitrust laws.
ClearOne v. UBS (FINRA) — Represented UBS in auction rate securities case.
Del Monte Antitrust Class Action (N.D. Cal.) — Lead counsel in briefing and arguing successful dismissal of Sherman Act bid rigging claim re acquisition of Del Monte. Defendants included Goldman Sachs; KKR; Vestar and Barclays.
In re Verifone Holdings, Inc. Shareholder Derivative Suit — Represented directors in derivative suit regarding restatements of financial results.
Kolton v. Gray et al (Del. Chancery Ct, Cir. Ct. Ill.) — Defended shareholder disclosure/breach of fiduciary duty suit challenging billion-dollar acquisition by Schwab of options trading company.
Maric Capital v. Plato Learning (Del. Chancery Ct.) — Defeated preliminary injunction seeking to block going private merger.
Friedman v. 24 Hour Fitness (C.D. Cal) — Represented client after taking over case subsequent to certification of nationwide RICO class re termination policies.
Sonicwall Shareholder Litigation (Cal. Super. Ct. San Jose) — Represented buyer in shareholder litigation re take-private acquisition.
In re Embarcadero Technologies (SEC) — Successfully represented client in SEC backdating investigation.
Shakib v. Discover (Cal. Super. Ct. SF) — Represented client in class action re use of client information for marketing purposes.
Lebrija v. FTVentures (AAA) — Won $20 million dollar contract fraud case.
Rosenwein v. Morgan Stanley (NYSE) — Won complete defense victory $150 million breach of contract, negligence case for Morgan Stanley.
Wu v. FTVentures (AAA) — Won $30 million breach of contract/fraud case.
Hanger v. Clifford Chance (Bankr. N.D. Cal.) — Won confirmation of contested bankruptcy settlement hearing regarding claims arising from the dissolution of the Brobeck firm.
Zacson v. Qwest Communications (N.D. Cal.) — Won breach of contract and fraud trial in Northern District of California regarding telecommunications services issues. Complete defense verdict and victory on resultant counterclaims.
Bach v. Morgan Stanley (NYSE) — Won securities arbitration on behalf regarding Worldcom stock options and activities of Morgan Stanley brokers and supervisors.
Kendrick v. Morgan Stanley (NYSE) — Won case brought against Morgan Stanley regarding alleged conflict of interest between research and investment banking departments.
CSX Transportation v. Qwest Communications (Cal. Super. Ct.) — Represented Qwest in a $400 million contract action regarding right-of-way contracts for telecommunications use in federal court in Florida. Case settled on favorable terms after picking of jury.
Morgan Stanley Microsoft Securities Litigation — Represented Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in a highly publicized series of securities claims brought by Microsoft executives against MSDW and its brokers in claims totaling over $50 million. Prevailed in two separate cases in Seattle spanning a month. The Wall Street Journal described the result as "a telling win for Morgan Stanley." Twelve remaining cases were subsequently settled or dismissed on very favorable terms.
Chiquita Brands v. Gannett (S.D. Oh.) — Represented Chiquita in case regarding hacking into company voice mail systems by reporters. Resulted in retraction and settlement by Gannett and Cincinnati Enquirer.
Hablett v. Siemens A.G. (S.D.N.Y.) — Represented Siemens A.G. and its American subsidiary Siemens Corporation in a negligence/products liability class action pending in the Southern District of New York regarding the ski train fire in Kaprun, Austria.
General Motors v. NBC (S.D. Ind.) — Represented GM in case alleging fraudulent rigging of crash tests conducted by NBC and aired on DATELINE NBC. Case resulted in complete retraction and apology by NBC.
More
Thought Leadership
Publications
Co-Author, “Training Trial Lawyers,” The American Bar Association: Litigation Journal, Vol. 48, Issue 3, Spring 2022
Teaching Experience
Partner in charge of Kirkland's Firmwide trial advocacy training programs (KITA)
Adjunct Professor — Notre Dame Law School
Recognition
Recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a “Local Litigation Star” for Commercial, Privacy and Data Protection Litigation, 2023–2025
Recognized by Benchmark Litigation for Commercial Litigation, 2023–2024
Recognized in Best Lawyers® for Commercial Litigation, 2023–2025
Memberships & Affiliations
Boards and Public Interest Work:
- Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund — Chair
- Silicon Valley Urban Debate League — Co-Founder Director
- University of Notre Dame — Undergraduate Advisory Council
- LaSalle College High School — Director
- Alliance for Catholic Education — Advisory Council
Jim is deeply involved in philanthropy and non-profit work. He has served as Chair of the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, is a co-founder and Director of the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League (which brings debate and speech learning and opportunities to over fourteen-hundred students at underserved schools in the Bay Area), has served on the Board of LaSalle College High School, is a member the Undergraduate Advisory Council of the University of Notre Dame and the Advisory Council of the Alliance for Catholic Education.
Jim is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (1986) and the Notre Dame Law School (1989) where he was Executive Articles Editor of the Law Review.
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 1990District of Columbia
- 2003California
- 2010New York
Courts
- Supreme Court of the United States
- United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Education
- Notre Dame Law SchoolJ.D.
Executive Articles Editor, Volume LXIVV, Notre Dame Law Review
1989 - University of Notre DameB.A.1986