Gordon C. Atkinson is a partner and senior counsel at Gluck Daniel Atkinson, having joined the firm in January 2017, following a more than thirty-year tenure at Cooley LLP, where he was the partner in charge of the firm’s San Francisco litigation department and previously served on the firm’s management committee.

Gordon’s practice centers on complex business litigation in a variety of settings, including the representation of technology and other clients in securities litigation, venture capital, licensing and intellectual property disputes. At Cooley, Gordon was the co-founder of the firm’s Venture Capital litigation group, and he has worked on more than 50 disputes and/or litigation matters involving both venture capital and more mature private equity fund disputes. Gordon has tried cases involving mergers and acquisitions, software licensing, tax fraud, venture capital funding, and other contract disputes, as well as a dispute involving the ownership of patent rights involving medical devices. He has represented software clients in multiple state and federal courts and in arbitrations over the use of proprietary information.

Gordon has represented insurers and insureds in disputes under many different types of insurance policies, including trial and pretrial proceedings in a variety of complex coverage actions. He has also represented clients in multiple aspects of environmental law, including the defense of civil, criminal and regulatory proceedings, specializing in matters involving the remediation, sale or development of contaminated property and the regulation of hazardous materials.

Gordon has been consistently recognized by Best Lawyers in America for his commercial litigation, environmental litigation, intellectual property litigation and securities regulation work. He is also annually listed in Super Lawyers.

Prior to joining Cooley LLP, Gordon was with Rogers & Wells (now Clifford Chance) in New York. At Rogers & Wells, his litigation practice focused on the areas of First Amendment (defamation) and commodities and securities fraud.

Gordon received a JD at the University of Chicago Law School in 1981. He served as a founder, and later president, of the Chicago Law Foundation. He also served as a student attorney in the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, where he successfully tried a race and gender discrimination trial before an administrative law judge. He completed his undergraduate education at Harvard University, where he graduated, cum laude, with a BA in Government in 1977.

Gordon is a member of the bars of the states of California and New York, the Ninth, Eighth and Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Districts of California and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He is a member of the American and the San Francisco bar associations.

In addition to the practice of law, Gordon was formerly an adjunct professor of environmental law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He was previously the president of the Board of Directors for Sunny Hills Services, a non-profit organization working with abused and neglected children. He also served as an officer on the Board of Trustees for the San Francisco Day School.

When not working, Gordon enjoys playing golf at the Presidio Golf Course, where he sits on the Board of Directors of the Players Club (he is former President of that Board). He also enjoys cooking, listening to the blues, and watching the SF Giants, as well as kayaking, and other outdoor activities.

Education
University of Chicago Law School, JD, 1981
Harvard University, BA Government, 1977, cum laude

Affiliations
American Bar Association
Bar Association of San Francisco
Santa Clara Bar Association

Bar Admissions
California
New York
U.S. Courts of Appeal (Ninth, Eighth, and Second Circuits)
U.S. District Court, District of Delaware
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
U.S. District Court, Southern

Awards and Recognitions
Best Lawyers in America (1995 to present)
Super Lawyers (2000 to present)

Boards and Organizations
In addition to the practice of law, Gordon was formerly an adjunct professor of environmental law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He was previously the president of the Board of Directors for Sunny Hills Services, a non-profit organization working with abused and neglected children. He also served as an officer on the Board of Trustees for the San Francisco Day School. Gordon also previously served as a founder, and later president, of the Chicago Law Foundation, raising money to assist law students seeking jobs in the pro bono and public sectors. He also served as a student attorney in the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, where he successfully tried a race and gender discrimination trial before an administrative law judge