Gillian L. Wade

Gillian L. Wade leads MJFW’s consumer fraud and class action litigation department.  Since joining the firm in 2005, Gillian’s practice has focused on representing plaintiffs in complex litigation and consumer class actions stemming from a wide range of unlawful activities including violations of California’s unfair competition law and false advertising law, antitrust violations, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, data breach and privacy violations, financial abuse of the elderly and disabled statutes, employment violations, warranty and product liability laws, and civil rights abuses. Gillian has been involved in the resolution of over 75 consumer fraud class actions.

Gillian has been appointed lead class counsel or co-lead class counsel in several state and federal class actions throughout the United States, including: In re Dollar General Motor Corp. Motor Oil Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation (MDL 2709 2019);  Elkies v. Johnson & Johnson (C.D. Cal. 2018); Perez v. Public Storage  (LASC 2018);  In re Wells Fargo Bank Wage and Hour Cases(LASC 2018);  Barba et al. v. Shire U.S. Inc., (S.D. Fla. 2017); Eggnatz v. The Kashi Company(S.D. Fla. 2016); Toney v. Just Fabulous, (LASC 2016); Paul v. Wine.com, (SFSC); Arreguin v. Telebrands Corp. (San Bernardino County); McCrary v. The Elations Co., LLC, EDCV 13-00242 (C.D. Cal.); Saenz v.  SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (Alameda  Superior  Court); Smith, et al. v. Intuit, Inc. (N.D. Cal.); In re Budeprion XL and Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation(MDL No. 2107) (E.D. Pa. 2014); Keller v. Gaspari Nutrition, Inc. No. 2:11-cv-06158-GAF (C.D. Cal.);  Shaffer v. Continental Casualty Company, 2:06-cv-2235-PSG (C.D. Cal.); Weeks, et al. v. Kellogg, et al. (C.D. Cal.); Thompson, et al., v. Biotab Nutraceuticals, Inc. (LASC); Pabst v. Genesco, Inc. (N.D. Cal.); Heath, et al. v. County of San Bernardino (C.D. Cal.); and Solomon v. Ramona’s Food Products, (LASC).  Ms. Wade  has also been appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committees in several federal class actions centralized by the MDL Panel, including: In re Nutramax Cosamin Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation (MDL No. 2489)(D. Md.); In re Pom Wonderful Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation (MDL No. 2199)(C.D. Cal.); In re Budeprion XL Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation (MDL No. 2107) (E.D. Pa.); In re Liberty Refund Anticipation Loan Litig. (MDL No. 2334) (N.D. Ill.) and In re H&R Block Refund Anticipation Litig. (MDL No. 2373) (N.D. Ill.).

In addition to representing Plaintiffs in complex matters, Gillian has also defended law firms and their clients in cases involving plaintiff-side litigation practices and Civil RICO claims, and has represented clients involved in government investigations, including disputes with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Gillian has written articles regarding class action litigation and was the Plaintiff’s co-chair of the 2019 Bridgeport Consumer Class Action conference.  Gillian has been invited as a panelist at numerous conferences regarding consumer class action litigation, including, “Does Compliance Matter? Class Actions Over Regulated Labels” at the 2014 American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C., the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 Bridgeport Consumer Class Action Litigation & Management Conferences in Los Angeles and Orange County, the 2019 Mass Torts Made Perfect (Class Action Track) conference, and the 2017 Food Law Conference in Austin, Texas, where she presented plaintiff perspectives on class action procedural issues affecting food litigation.

In 2019, Gillian accepted an invitation to join the Outside Advisory Board of the UCLA Resnick Center for Food & Law Policy.  Gillian was also selected to be on the 2018-2019 executive committee for the The Class Action Trial Lawyers Association – Top 25 , and is currently serving on the national St. Jude Children’s Hospital cy pressubcommittee.  Gillian has been selected for the list of Southern California Super Lawyers every year since 2013, a distinction awarded to only 5% of lawyers statewide. Prior to joining the firm, Gillian was a litigation associate at Jones Day where she defended corporations in consumer fraud class actions, ERISA cases, and actions arising under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Gillian  is a graduate of the University of California at San Diego (B.A. Political Science, 1999) and Pepperdine University (J.D. 2003), where she graduated magna cum laude, was a recipient of the John Purfield Memorial Scholarship for academic excellence, and served as a  staff writer for the Pepperdine Law Review.