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Stuart L. Gasner
Partner

Email: sgasner@kvn.com
Tel: 415.391.5400

Education:
University of Michigan Law School, 1981
Dartmouth College, 1976

Stuart Gasner, a partner at Keker & Van Nest, centers his practice on white collar criminal and securities defense, intellectual property litigation, and complex corporate disputes. Formerly a federal prosecutor before joining Keker & Van Nest, Stuart has tried over 20 cases to verdict before juries across the United States. Stuart is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for white collar criminal defense and San Francisco Magazine named him a "Northern California Super Lawyer" in the areas of white collar criminal defense and business litigation.

In the field of white collar crime and fraud, Stuart has over 25 years of experience in handling criminal trials and investigations. His cases have spanned a wide range of subject areas, including securities fraud, insider trading, antitrust, computer crimes, banking fraud, credit card fraud, mail and wire fraud, environmental crimes, conspiracy, and Food and Drug Administration crimes, among others. Currently, Stuart has concentrated in representing individual officers and directors against allegations of financial fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice, especially in the area of options-backdating. As a defense lawyer, Stuart has represented scores of individuals and institutions over the years, including banking officials during the S&L crisis of the 1980's; a corporation accused of criminal food safety violations stemming from tainted fruit juice in the 1990's; and the defense of many white collar matters arising out of the dot-com collapse from 2000 onward. As an Assistant United States Attorney, Stuart's cases focused on large scale narcotics conspiracies, but included prosecutions for sexual assault, banking crimes, labor crimes, and crimes under the Endangered Species Act. Notable cases as a prosecutor included United States v. Dep George (prosecution for arms dealing under the Trading with the Enemy Act); and United States v. Abdul Rasheed (prosecution of international conspiracy involving 75 tons of hashish transported by the freight).

In the intellectual property area, Stuart has represented many well-known corporations in patent and trade secret litigation, including Intel, Corus Pharma, ASM, Harris Corporation, Network Appliance, the Industrial Technical Research Institute of Taiwan, Sportvision, and Tahoe Networks. These cases have involved electronics technologies ranging from integrated circuit design and architecture to semiconductor fabrication equipment, telecommunications, networking, and video graphics. One particularly notable recent case was Chiron v. Corus Pharma, a "bet-the-company" trade-secret defense case that Stuart took over from prior counsel four months before trial. The case went to trial in July 2006 in state court in Seattle; after a vigorous trial defense by Stuart and partners John Keker and Ashok Ramani, the plaintiff dismissed the case with prejudice mid-trial without any payment whatsoever by the defendants. Other notable cases have included Intel v. Broadcom (patent infringement action in Texarkana, Texas concerning video graphics architecture, memory arbitration, and networking chips); ASM v. Genus (patent infringement action involving Atomic Layer Deposition and etching/CVD technology); Harris Corporation v. Ericsson (patent infringement jury trial in Sherman, Texas relating to telecommunications chip circuitry); and Sportvision v. PVI (patent infringement action concerning video graphics for virtual first down line and other special effects in real time video).

With respect to complex corporate litigation and disputes, Stuart's practice has encompassed a myriad of subject matters. Many have involved the representation of law firms, venture capital firms, and advertising agencies. Stuart also serves as a mediator and Early Neutral Evaluator for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and has assisted the parties and the Court in resolving cases at an early stage.

Stuart graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth in 1976. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan School of Law in 1981, and was the editor-in-chief of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. Stuart served as a law clerk to the Honorable Roger Robb on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1981-82, following which he worked as an associate at Williams & Connolly until 1988. Stuart was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii from 1989 until 1993, and has been at Keker & Van Nest since then, becoming a partner in 1995. Stuart has appeared as a lecturer at USF Law School on white collar crime, and for CEB on the topics of "Advising Directors and Officers in the Post-Enron Era," and "Business Crimes and their Collateral Consequences to Employers and Employees." He has also taught on the faculty of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

Stuart lives in San Francisco with his wife Kate Ditzler and their blended family of five kids. When not working or attending children's sporting events, Stuart is an avid surfer and skier.