Collin P. Wedel

COLLIN WEDEL regularly represents clients in the United States Supreme Court and throughout the federal and state appellate courts around the country, personally arguing several cases in the Ninth Circuit and in state supreme and appellate courts. Recently, Collin was part of Sidley appellate teams that won two cases in front of the California Supreme Court on the same day, setting new precedents about the recoverability of trial costs and the interpretation of non-disparagement agreements, and one of his First Amendment wins in the Ninth Circuit was highlighted by The National Law Journal as a finalist for its 2020 “Pro Bono Hot List.” Chambers USA recognized Collin as an “Up and Coming” lawyer for California Litigation: Appellate (2023–2025), with clients remarking that “Collin is a fantastic attorney who understands complex legal problems and communicates his arguments about them in a clear way” (2024) and that they are “impressed with his intellect, research, diligence and responsiveness” (2023).

Collin’s appellate and post-trial matters have addressed a range of questions including those involving constitutional and statutory interpretation, foreign sovereign immunity under the common law and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), fair use under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), California’s anti-SLAPP laws, California’s consumer fraud statutes (the Unfair Competition Law (UCL), False Advertising Law (FAL), Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), federal firearms laws, free speech and free exercise claims under the First Amendment and Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), the federal Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), abstention and federal jurisdiction, accountants’ liability issues, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), the False Claims Act (FCA), and Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

Collin also brings an appellate perspective to cases at the trial and post-trial stage, in state and federal courts and arbitration tribunals, where he has briefed and tried issues relating to state-law contract and tort claims, products liability, federal preemption in the banking, healthcare and FDA contexts, federal antitrust laws, federal anti-discrimination laws, state and federal employment statutes, insurance regulation and “bad faith” litigation, eminent domain and the mortgage-backed securities market.

Collin serves as co-chair of Sidley’s Los Angeles Pro Bono Committee and is a member of the firm’s Office of General Counsel. Prior to joining Sidley, Collin served as a clerk for the Honorable Ruggero J. Aldisert of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

His victories include obtaining:

• Complete defense verdict after a two-week jury trial on behalf of a major sports apparel and athletic shoe company in a third-party investor lawsuit relating to alleged misrepresentations over a retail operation agreement.
• Denial of class certification by a California district court on behalf of a major international pharmaceutical company in a putative nationwide class action alleging that a pharmaceutical company deceptively marketed a savings card program for a prescription drug. 
• Substantial arbitration award (including attorneys’ fees and costs) on behalf of an investment adviser after a 23-day arbitration involving testimony from 16 fact witnesses and nine experts.
• Affirmance by the U.S. Court of Appeals and a denial of certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding a district court’s dismissal under the public disclosure bar of a False Claims Act complaint brought against multiple telecommunications companies.
• Denial of certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a major record label in a high-profile case regarding the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
• Favorable settlement on behalf of seven death row prisoners, ensuring that the State of Arizona will not use either of two painful drugs in its execution procedures and guaranteeing meaningful limitations on the State’s discretion in carrying out executions going forward.
• Affirmance by the U.S. Court of Appeals of a district court’s dismissal of a multimillion-dollar False Claims Act suit brought against a global pharmaceutical company.
• Removal to federal court of a large class action involving alleged violations of multiple provisions of California’s Labor Code after multiple rounds of briefing in the district court and a successful interlocutory appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
• Dismissal of all claims brought against a pharmaceutical manufacturer in a California district court action alleging breach of contract and bad faith in a dispute arising out of the federal 340B program for drug pricing.
• Favorable settlement for a trade organization that, on behalf of its members, sued a non-member manufacturer for mislabeling its products and undermining consumer trust in the relevant product market.

Representative matters include:

• Assisted with representation of marketplace lending organizations against a state enforcement action alleging violations of state usury laws.
• Assisted with representation of one of the world’s largest electronics companies against charges of having unlawfully used another firm’s intellectual property.
• Assisted with representation of a title insurance company against allegations of having breached its duty to defend and to indemnify its insured.
• Assisted with representation of an international sports organization as a plaintiff in connection with rescinding a major vendor contract that had been procured through fraud.
• Assisted with representation of a food manufacturer in a class action lawsuit accusing the manufacturer of false advertising on its labels in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law.

• Board Member, Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice

• Represented client in the California Supreme Court regarding the litigation rights of sexual assault survivors facing lawsuits aimed at preventing their access to legal process, resulting in a precedent-setting ruling that the targets of harassment do not give up their rights to later seek damages for their injuries by first pursuing a temporary restraining order to prevent further abuse.
• Represented defendant in the United States Supreme Court in Edwards v. Vannoy, 141 S. Ct. 1547 (2021) and drafted briefs addressing whether the Supreme Court’s holding that the Constitution prohibits convictions by non-unanimous juries was a watershed rule that could be applied retroactively to earlier convictions.
• Represented three death row prisoners in the United States Supreme Court in Glossip v. Gross, 576 U.S. 863 (2015) and drafted briefs addressing whether Oklahoma’s proposed method of execution was cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment.
• Argued and won an appeal in the Ninth Circuit on behalf of the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona and seven death row prisoners seeking to expand the First Amendment’s right of access to governmental proceedings.
• Active representation of death row prisoners from multiple states on appeal and in the Supreme Court at the certiorari and merits stages in challenging their respective states’ proposed methods of execution as cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment.