Padraic Foran

A creative and forceful litigator, Hueston Hennigan partner Padraic Foran focuses on complex civil litigation—primarily fraud, trade secret, and professional liability matters—in California and across the country. He has argued and won significant motions in state and federal courts in California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Delaware.

Mr. Foran has guided a wide variety of clients—from Southern California Edison, Epic Games, Bausch Health, Genworth Financial, and Endo Pharmaceuticals, to Qualcomm, SpaceX, Tesla, Willis Towers Watson, and GlaxoSmithKline—through sensitive, high-stakes litigation. He also advises corporate officers and directors in a broad range of industries, such as telecommunications, real estate, and financial services, on their most important and urgent matters.

Among his accolades, Mr. Foran has been selected to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Thriving in their 40s list, Benchmark Litigation’s “Future Stars” and “40 & Under” lists, and the “Southern California Super Lawyers” and “Rising Stars” lists.

Updated Nov 2025

• Won “landmark” opioid trial for Endo Pharmaceuticals in a closely watched $50 billion California case alleging public nuisance, unfair competition, and false advertising. Obtained a full defense verdict following a four-month trial. The win was hailed in The American Lawyer as “giv[ing] drug companies their first major victory in the litigation brought by cities and counties across the country over the opioid crisis.” 
  
  
• Representing Southern California Edison and Edison International in the face of billions of dollars in claims stemming from a series of historic fires and mudslides across Southern California from 2017 to 2022. More than 900 cases have been filed on behalf of more than 15,000 plaintiffs against SCE and Edison International relating to the disasters.
  
  
• Defending Epic Games against numerous lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions related to alleged “video game addiction.” Plaintiffs claim that Epic and other video game manufacturers and distributors designed their games to be addictive—using sophisticated data, research, and tactics to keep minor users playing longer and spending more money on in-game purchases.
  
  
• Mr. Foran was a key member of the trial team that helped strike down a land use ordinance passed by Malibu voters that was described in the press as “one of the most stringent anti-development measures ever attempted in the country.” He developed a winning legal strategy that revealed the ordinance’s overreach and illegality – then tried the case on the pleadings and obtained an excellent result, sparing his client costly discovery. The victory was affirmed by the California Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision.

• Commercial disputes
• Environmental

• Energy
• Gaming
• Pharmaceutical and life sciences
• Technology and telecommunications
• Utilities

• USC Gould School of Law (J.D., 2008) Order of the Coif
• London School of Economics and Political Science (LL.M., 2008)
• University of Southern California (B.A., 2005, English) magna cum laude

• Board member, Los Angeles chapter of Association of Business Trial Lawyers

• California