Oliver Rocos

Oliver Rocos is a partner at Bird Marella. He joined the firm in 2019 after spending five years practicing law at two AmLaw firms, in addition to three years as a barrister in London, England.

He represents a broad range of individuals, media, technology, and financial industry clients in complex commercial disputes involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, negligence, and employment claims, as well as securities and regulatory actions. Mr. Rocos is admitted to practice in California, New York, and England & Wales and regularly litigates in state and federal court and arbitration proceedings.

His recent victories include winning highly complex and contentious disputes in state and federal court on behalf of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sanchez; securing a complete and final dismissal of antitrust claims brought by subscription-based audio streaming service Pandora against his client Word Collections, Inc., a performing rights collection agency representing songwriters and comedians; prevailing in two federal class actions on behalf of Hyundai Motor America; and securing numerous favorable decisions and settlements on behalf of clients in actions pending in New York, California, and Texas.

Mr. Rocos also helmed a class action lawsuit on behalf of inmates in Lompoc Federal Prison regarding the Bureau of Prisons’ failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He succeeded in obtaining a preliminary injunction that led to the transfer of hundreds of prisoners to safer home confinement and improved prison conditions, defeated a motion to dismiss, and negotiated a settlement that ensured a safer environment for prisoners and prison staff. The action vastly improved the lives of those transferred out of Lompoc and those who remained, who had much improved conditions of confinement. The ACLU SoCal awarded Mr. Rocos and his team the 2021 Humanitarian Award, recognizing this extraordinary advocacy.

Among others, he currently is representing billionaire casino magnate Steve Wynn in his defense of a class action securities lawsuit, FFP (Cayman) as trustee of hundreds of millions of dollars in assets related to the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) scandal (the largest civil forfeiture litigation brought by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative), Tesla in its dispute with the California government regarding the advertising of its self-driving technology, and prominent musicians and influencers in disputes pending in New York and Los Angeles.

Mr. Rocos was also recognized among The Recorder‘s Lawyers on the Fast Track list at the 2023 California Legal Awards.