Noah Helpern is a Partner in Ellis George LLP’s Los Angeles office. His practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on media and entertainment disputes, class actions, RICO cases, and structured finance litigation. He also has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution and served as a teaching assistant for the Harvard Negotiation Institute (formerly Program of Instruction for Lawyers) at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. From 2013 through 2017, Noah was selected to the Southern California Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” list. Prior to joining Ellis George, Noah spent approximately a decade in the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP.
Representative Clients
- University of Southern California
- San Diego Association of Governments
- Pacific Gas and Electric Company
- San Diego Gas & Electric
- Ambac Assurance Corp.
- East West Bank
- MBIA Insurance Corporation
- eBay, Inc.
Representative Matters
Though all cases vary and none is predictive, Noah’s experience includes:
- Representing putative class of Black homeowners against Wells Fargo claiming discrimination in the bank’s refinancing process.
- Defense of national media organization and national television network in various defamation and related claims.
- Obtaining complete dismissal, at the pleading stage, of RICO action alleging unlawful surveillance and harassment by high-profile entertainment industry figure and his legal team.
- Won dismissal of derivative lawsuit, and affirmance on appeal by the Nevada Supreme Court, on basis of former CEO’s lack of standing to pursue derivative claims. James J. Cotter, Jr. v. Kane, et al. (Reading International, Inc.), 136 Nev. 63 (2020).
- Counsel for eBay, Inc. in theft of trade secret, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty case against craigslist related to eBay’s minority investment in craigslist. Case settled on confidential terms.
- Represented lead defendant in a 59-count criminal RICO case brought against a successful businessman by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Obtained dismissal of certain RICO claims pre-trial, others during a four-week trial, and all remaining claims through post-trial motions based on government misconduct.
- Defended celebrity client in action alleging sexual battery and emotional distress. Represented same client in actions alleging defamation, false light and emotional distress.
- Obtained a complete victory for the University of Southern California following a 7 day arbitration against its former head football coach Steve Sarkisian, who sought over $30 million in connection with an allegedly wrongful termination. The arbitrator denied each of Sarkisian’s claims, resulting in a judgment in USC’s favor.
- Represented San Diego Gas & Electric and Sempra Energy in defense of over $2 billion in property damage claims arising from 2007 San Diego Wildfires.
- Represented East West Bank in a class action alleging the bank aided and abetted an alleged Ponzi scheme.
- Represented MBIA Insurance Corporation as subrogee to claims under California securities laws of purchasers of residential mortgage backed securities in two separate actions for losses MBIA incurred in excess of $2.5 billion in connection with securitizations comprised of Countrywide and IndyMac mortgages.
Education
- Harvard Law School, J.D., 2007
- Pomona College, B.A., Public Policy Analysis/Politics, magna cum laude, 2003
Bar Admissions
- California
