Attorneys

Maxwell M. Blecher

Maxwell M. Blecher, the founding partner of Blecher & Collins, is renowned for his expertise in the antitrust field. He has litigated significant cases resulting in many precedent-setting decisions in state and federal courts, including the California and U.S. Supreme Courts. He has testified before Congressional hearings; authored numerous articles on antitrust and civil litigation; and lectures extensively on antitrust and trial practice at programs sponsored by federal, state and local Bar associations.

Mr. Blecher is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He served on President Carter’s National Commission for the Review of Antitrust Laws. In 1998 the California State Bar named him Antitrust Lawyer of the Year. Since 1997 he has been listed in Best Lawyers in America; profiled in Chambers USA Guide: America’s Leading Business Lawyers; and is one of 14 attorneys profiled in America’s Top Trial Lawyers. Mr. Blecher has also been featured in California Lawyer and Los Angeles Magazine as a leading California lawyer.

Some of Mr. Blecher’s significant litigations include:

• Representing the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in its victory over the National Football League permitting member teams to move from one location to another with competitor approval.
• Representing a group of 10 independent service operators in a precedent-shattering suit against Eastman Kodak resulting in a $72 million judgment for the plaintiffs.
• Representing Handgards in a suit against Johnson & Johnson resulting in a sizeable judgment for plaintiff, and producing a new body of antitrust law in connection with prosecuting patent litigation in bad faith.
• Successfully defending a motion picture exhibitor against charges brought by the Department of Justice that the defendant had monopolized motion picture exhibition in Las Vegas.
• Winning a large judgment charging malicious prosecution against a Texas-based oil company.
• Successfully prosecuting an antitrust case for one of the two inter-island carriers in Hawaii against the other.
• Successfully prosecuted a case for a reseller of long-distance service against AT&T.