Ted boutrous

Birthday: September 23, 1960

Hometown: Bismarck, North Dakota

Primary residence: Indian Wells, CA

Current role: Partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher Law Firm

Net worth: Unknown

Compensation salary: At least $6M

Education: 

• JD from the University of San Diego School of Law (1987) 

• BA from Arizona State University (1984) 

Board memberships, affiliations, and roles:

• Council member of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF)

• Director of the California Supreme Court Historical Society

• Member of the Business Advisory Council of ProPublica

• Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers

• Member of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

• Member of the Product Liability Advisory Council

• Member of the American Law Institute

• Admissions:

  • California Bar, District of Columbia Bar, and New York Bar

  • Solicitor, registered foreign lawyer in England & Wales

Past roles: 

• Joined Gibson Dunn Law Firm in 1987

• Editor-in-Chief of the San Diego Law Review (1987)
  

Fun facts: 

• Ted Boutrous was Brad Pitt’s lawyer during his custody battle with Angelina Jolie.

• The Guardian nicknamed Boutrous “The Smooth Talker” in 2021 on their “Dirty Dozen” list. 

• Boutrous is very active on his X account and has 58.8K followers.

Ted Boutrous has represented numerous fossil fuel companies, including the oil giant Chevron, (the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses of any company in the world in 2019). Boutrous has profited from defending the wealthy and powerful in cases that some criticize are “at the expense of disempowered people and communities.” 

GDC is defending oil companies that spread climate change misinformation in climate accountability suits

• Many states and localities are suing Chevron and other fossil fuel companies in tort suits, seeking to hold them liable for climate damages, denial of risks to shareholders, and disinformation in the public realm. GDC is representing Chevron, BP, and many other large oil companies in many of these cases, providing armies of lawyers to help evade accountability for the fossil fuel companies. Named as defendants in each of these suits, the four most prominent “oil majors” in the U.S. (ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP) each understood that fossil fuels pose a global threat by creating unnatural climate change. They all participated in financing opposition to climate policy solutions and also attacks on the science itself. 

Weaponizing the First Amendment to defend misinformation

• DeSmog and ExxonKnews co-published an article in January 2024 that explains how Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has played both sides of free speech, both using it to defend Big Oil’s misinformation and silencing critics of the fossil fuel industry. Gibson Dunn has defended Chevron and other companies’ statements about climate change as First Amendment-protected “political speech” because they concern public opinion and policy. 

Weaponizing the First Amendment to silence protestors

• While Gibson Dunn has worked to expand free speech rights for corporations, it has done the opposite for some individuals. In July 2023, Gibson Dunn began representing Energy Transfer in a case filed in North Dakota against Greenpeace USA and protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation. Originally filed by Kasowitz, Benson & Torres in 2017, this suit was escalated by Gibson Dunn, which charged protestors with violating state and federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) laws, potentially holding the protestors responsible for almost $1 billion in damages. 

  • Gibson Dunn previously helped Energy Transfer’s subsidiary, Dakota Access LLC, defend the pipeline’s continued construction against other legal challenges by tribal leadership. 

• According to Deepa Padmanabha, legal counsel for Greenpeace US, “The thought is that if they can successfully silence an organization like Greenpeace US, that will have a ripple effect and smaller groups and individuals won't dare speak out. The precedent that the fossil fuel industry is trying to set around protest and protest liability is so dangerous that, if successful, it is difficult to envision how this won’t have a chilling effect.” 

Chevron v. Ecuador

• Between 1964 and 1990, Texaco, later acquired by Chevron in 2001, had significant oil drilling operations in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Ecuadorians and their legal representatives allege that during this time, Texaco dumped more than 17 million gallons of crude oil, 16 million gallons of toxic wastewater, and additional miscellaneous hazardous waste into the Amazon Rainforest. In 2011, a landmark judgment was reached, ordering Chevron to pay $18 billion to fix environmental and punitive damage, but was later reduced to $9 billion by Ecuador’s Supreme Court after Chevron appealed. Chevron, represented by Ted Boutrous, refused to accept this judgment.

• Through Boutrous, Chevron filed a lawsuit under the RICO Act, claiming that the plaintiffs had used means of massive fraud to unlawfully extort Chevron. This lawsuit named almost every lawyer, scientific consultant, activist organization, and named Ecuadorian as conspirators. Chevron, with essentially unlimited financial resources, was able to shop for a heavily biased judge: Lewis A. Kaplan. Their key witness has admitted to lying under oath after extensive preparation by Chevron’s legal team and was paid more than $2 million for providing false testimony. 

• Despite overwhelming evidence of Chevron’s wrongdoings, the judge presiding over the case ruled in Chevron’s favor and found Stephen Donziger to be in contempt of court for refusing to hand over electronic devices to Chevron’s legal team. Kaplan then appointed a private prosecutor to pursue criminal charges for contempt of court as well as choosing the judge to preside over the case instead of using random assignment. This judge, Loretta Preska, had held a position on the advisory board of the Federalist Society, to which Chevron had made significant donations in years past. Donziger was placed under house arrest in 2019 and remained there for the two years it took to go to trial. In July 2021 Judge Preska found Donziger guilty of six counts of criminal contempt of court, sentencing him to a maximum of six months in prison. He served just over a month in federal prison before returning to house arrest, where he was released in April of 2022.

Gibson Dunn was sanctioned for witness intimidation related to Chevron’s Ecuador pollution litigation

• Attorney Andrea Neuman was sanctioned by a Colorado court for intimidating witnesses during questioning in 2010. Court filings reported by Amazon Watch plaintiffs described Gibson Dunn lawyers’ questioning during depositions as “abusive and harassing”.  

Gibson Dunn falsified evidence and was fined by the High Court of England 

• In a case to extradite a political dissident from Djibouti on dubious terrorism charges, a GDC lawyer fabricated evidence and misled judges. Attorney Peter Gray falsified the dates of phone call transcripts to convince the court to arrest a businessman who was falsely accused of supporting a terrorist act. 

Gibson Dunn fights against Native tribes in court for the Dakota Access Pipeline

• Gibson Dunn has been the primary firm representing the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in litigation. Gibson Dunn has fought against Tribes in court for years, despite mass protests by Native activists who were attacked by dogs and water cannons, and the knowledge that the pipeline transports 500,000 barrels of oil a day and threatens Tribes’ water supply.

• Even though the pipeline was improperly authorized, Gibson Dunn has continued to facilitate the continuation of its construction and operations. Additionally, despite a court ruling that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to adequately consider the risk of oil spills when conducting its environmental review, DAPL is still operating.

Ted Boutrous benefits greatly from his climate crimes. Boutrous has a net worth of at least $6.5M, with one report alleging that he was billing clients $1,525 per hour in 2020 and another saying that he bills $2,000 an hour. Boutrous’s successes in the courts have caused “even progressive organizations, foundations, and investigative reporting groups” to praise his  promotion of “free speech” and “free press.” 

Boutrous has been given a long list of awards:

• In 2022, Boutrous was listed as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California by The Daily Journal for the 18th year in a row. 

• In 2021, Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals named him a “Top Lawyer of the Decade.” 

• Boutrous also won the “Freedom of the Press Award” in 2021, which was awarded by the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, of which Boutrous is a member. 

• Chevron was listed as one of the “Legacy Champion” sponsors that same year, reportedly giving the Reporters Committee at least $50,000. 

• Boutrous was awarded multiple honors in 2019, including Litigator of the Year in 2019 by The American Lawyer due to his number of high-profile cases, First Amendment Award by the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation, and the Distinguished Leadership Award from PEN America. 

Boutrous has a history of philanthropic activity. Some of his donations include: 

• Undisclosed amount to the ACLU of Hawaii in 2010

• Over $1,000 to Boys and Girls Clubs of America in 2003 and over $10,000 in 2006

• Undisclosed amount to the California Bar Foundation (of which Boutrous is a member) in 2010

• Over $1,000 to the International Women's Media Foundation (of which Boutrous is a council member) in 2009 and 2012

• Over $1,000 to the Jewish Free Loan Association

• Over $5,000 to Mount St. Mary's College in 2014

• Over $1,000 to the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in 2009

• Over $5,000 to the University of San Diego in 2004

• Over $1,000 to Vision to Learn in 2016

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is a prominent law firm with a significant role in the overall architecture of carbon capital. Within the fossil fuel commodity chain, the firm primarily provides legal counsel and support for various financial transactions related to fossil fuel projects. The firm has represented: American Petroleum Institute, Energy Transfer, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, and many other companies. 

Gibson Dunn assists in structuring financing deals, mergers and acquisitions, project development, and regulatory compliance for companies involved in extracting, producing, and transporting fossil fuels. While Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher may not be a big emitter directly, their clients in the fossil fuel industry are; as such, they may advise these clients on compliance with emissions regulations and reporting requirements. 

Law firms are still in “the early days of being required to report energy and carbon usage in their annual accounts”. Measures of capturing, assessing, and reporting this data vary greatly from firm to firm, making it challenging for people to find specific reports on Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s carbon emissions. 

Individuals from the climate movement have worked to push back against Ted Boutrous. One example is a letter from Law Students for Climate Accountability to Gibson Dunn, calling on the law firm to commit to a public ethical standard that articulates what fossil fuel work is incompatible with their commitments to the climate & frontline communities. This effort was part of the #DoneWithDunn campaign to boycott the law firm due to its efforts to shield “corporate polluters from climate accountability.” Additionally, Law Students for Climate Accountability listed the firm as “having the second highest amount of fossil fuel litigation work of all 26 firms the group evaluated”, and gave it a score of F.

In 2021, The Guardian listed Ted Boutrous on their Dirty Dozen list of “America’s top climate villains” for his involvement in being the “main spokesman for all the oil companies in some two dozen climate liability cases.”

• “You see the Biden administration, the secretary of state, calling for energy production to protect our country. So, I think, when you look at the doctrines we're relying on, the extraordinary nature of these cases, it really is a play for private lawyers, funded by various foundations and the like, working with municipalities and states to seize control of federal energy policy and to change how we consume energy.” –Boutrous, 2024

• “These wasteful lawsuits in state courts will do nothing to advance global climate solutions, nothing to reduce emissions and nothing to address climate-related impacts” – Boutrous talking about state & local governments pursuing litigation against oil companies seeking climate-related damages in April 2023

• “Freedom of speech does not mean making knowingly obviously dangerously false statements of fact.” –Boutrous, 2022

• “My supporting Democratic candidates and Democratic officeholders is completely consistent with my view that climate change is an extraordinarily important global policy issue. It must be dealt with by Congress, by the executive branch, by international bodies, it’s not something that can be dealt with through tort litigation.” –Boutrous, 2021

• “Chevron is a great company and great client with a strong culture of social responsibility.” –Boutrous, 2021

• “While I am a Democrat, I think that corporations and businesses are vital to our democracy and can be positive change agents in society, so I object when Democrats and progressives reflexively attack companies, and I think it’s bad politics, too. Democrats should engage more affirmatively with the business community, instead of treating it like the opposition.” –Boutrous in an interview with The Careerist, 2020

• “Chevron accepts what the IPCC has reached consensus on concerning science and climate change”; “It’s a global issue that requires global action”; “IPCC doesn’t say that the extraction or production of fossil fuels leads to emissions. Its energy use, the economic activity, that drives the demand for fuel that leads to emissions.” –Boutrous, 2018