John (Jack) S. Pierce

Jack Pierce has been a litigator for more than three decades. His national practice is broad and encompasses a wide variety of complex litigation, including defense of corporations and their officers and directors in cases involving complex financial claims, professional liability matters, prosecution of commercial misappropriation and fraud cases, anti-SLAPP suit matters, attorney fee disputes, insurance coverage matters, mass tort litigation and construction contract disputes.

Jack became a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in October 2014 as a result of the merger of Hinshaw and the Los Angeles-based firm of Barger & Wolen LLP.

Jack has served as a consultant and expert witness in the litigation management of cases involving a wide range of issues, including intellectual property disputes, mass tort litigation, breast implant litigation, commercial disputes, environmental coverage disputes, recording royalty disputes and mass asbestos litigation.

He is a nationally recognized expert witness in the areas of legal fee disputes, fee and cost allocation, legal ethics, and issues related to legal and ethical responsibilities of lawyers that arise from the tripartite relationship between insurers, insureds and defense counsel, and has argued related issues before state supreme Courts in numerous jurisdictions throughout the country.

Jack is a former member of the California Legislature's AB 2069 Committee, which was commissioned to study conflicts of interest and ethics within the tripartite relationship and to make recommendations to the California Legislature.

• The State Bar of California
• The Fellows of the American Bar Association, Fellow
• American Bar Association
  • Torts and Insurance Practice Committee
  • International Law & Practice Committee
• Association of Marine Underwriters
• Bar Association of San Francisco
• The District of Columbia Bar
• Maritime Law Association of the United States, Proctor

• Holds the AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, its highest rating for ethics and legal ability

• Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt v. Lasheen, 603 F.3d 1166 (9th Cir. 2010)
• United Services Auto Assn. v. Goodman, 823 So.2d 128 (Fla. 2002)
• Paradigm Ins. Co. v. Langerman Law Offices, 24 P.3d 593 (Ariz. 2001)
• Pine Island Farmers Coop. v. Erstad & Reimer, P.A., 649 N.W.2d 444 (Minn. 2002)
• Baker v. Pacific Far East Lines, 451 F. Supp. 84 (N.D. Cal. 1978)
• Buna v. Pacific Far East Lines, 441 F. Supp. 1360 (N.D. Cal. 1977)

• "Evaluation of Attorneys' Fees in Complex Litigation," New York, New York, June 2016
• "ETHICS – Ethical Dilemmas in the Tripartite Relationship Including Issues Unique to Insurance Defense Staff Counsel Operations," Claims & Litigation Management Annual Meeting, roundtable discussion, Boca Raton, Florida, April 2014
• "E-Billing, E-Strategy, E-Discovery," Council on Litigation Management, Litigation Management Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York, October 2013
• "Are Lawyers' Fees Fair and Reasonable in All The Circumstances," International Bar Association, Annual Conference, Dublin, Ireland, October 2012
• "Rethinking Legal Fees in Lean Times," Council on Litigation Management, 2010 Annual Conference, Ponte Vedra, Florida, March 2010
• "The Fee Dispute Case & The Fee Expert," National Association of Legal Fee Analysis seminar, "Attorney Fee Disputes in a Volatile and Uncertain Economy," San Francisco, California, March 2009
• "How to Conduct Fair and Effective Qualitative Legal Audits," The Council on Litigation Management, Annual Conference, "Bulletproofing the Defense Alliance," Phoenix, Arizona, March 2009
• "Economics of Litigation Management," The Council on Litigation Management, Litigation Management Training seminar, San Francisco, California, December 2008
• "Litigation 101 for Insurance Professionals," The Council on Litigation Management, Litigation Management Training seminar, San Francisco, California, December 2008

• Contributing Author, "Insurance Practices and Coverage in Liability Defense, Second Edition," Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, December 2013
• "Insurance Issues Facing the Cruise Line and Travel Industries," AM Best Podcasts, March 11, 2013
• Contributing Author, "Defending the Insured," Aspen Publishers, Inc., 2004 - 2006 and 2008
• "Millennium Crisis: Casualties on Both Sides in the Unholy War Between Insurers and the Defense Bar Over Issues of Staff Counsel, Legal Audits and Billing Guidelines," Mealey's Attorney Fees Conference, March 2000
• "Ethics or Economics? The Ethics of Insurer-Imposed Billing Guidelines and the Propriety of Permitting Billing Statements to be Received by Third-Party Auditors," Mealey's Conference on Attorney Fees, February 1999
• "A Practical Approach to Implementing Recovery Under Buss," Underwriter's Report, September 1997
• "Disclosure of Protected Communications and Documents to Legal Auditors," Journal Of Legal Auditing, Vol. 1, Spring 1996
• Co-Author, "How to Use a Legal Audit Report," Legal Audit Review, Vol. 2, May 1994
• "Recent Developments in Attorney Fee Disputes," 7 U.S.F. Mar. L.J. 205, Nov. 1994

Jack is an active lacrosse player. He has competed on collegiate, club, U.S. National and international teams in the years since he was co-captain of the University of Notre Dame's lacrosse team. In 2013, he was elected to the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Northern California Chapter, as a member of the Class of 2012.