Andrew S. Azarmi

Andrew S. Azarmi is an Office Managing Partner of the San Francisco and Oakland offices and leads Dentons' Northern California Commercial Litigation practice. His primary practice area is Commercial Litigation. He principally represents companies in the insurance, financial services, technology and telecommunications industries and has prevailed as lead counsel in numerous insurance, securities, technology and other commercial disputes.

His team's work contributes to the continued Chambers USA Band 1 ranking of Dentons' California insurance litigation practice, the Band 2 national ranking of its insurance litigation practice, and the Band 1 national ranking of its Commercial Litigation practice. A trial lawyer at heart, he has tried 15 trials or binding arbitrations to conclusion, including jury and bench trials in federal and state court, and arbitrations before AAA, JAMS and FINRA. He has taken or defended hundreds of depositions, briefed and argued well over 100 motions, and won many appeals, including in the United States Court of Appeals for multiple Circuits and multiple state appellate courts.

His notable experience includes winning a landmark jury verdict for a large insurance financial institution in a case involving decades-long-running long term care insurance fraud. After a two-week jury trial in federal court in Florida, the jury returned a verdict in the client's favour awarding millions of dollars, punitive damages and other relief, in a case of first impression of strategic importance for the LTC insurance industry. He was also a member of the trial team that won complete defence verdicts after back-to-back three-week jury trials in bet-the-company patent infringement litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, with the verdicts affirmed on appeal.

Other matters include obtaining a $6,000,000 payment from defendants on the eve of a three-week jury trial in a case prosecuting trade secrets misappropriation and related claims for a technology company against a direct competitor and former executives; defending some of the nation's earliest cryptocurrency litigation, including successfully defending a cryptocurrency company and its founder against multiple claims arising out of its Ethereum (ETH) initial coin offering; and defeating a class action asserting RICO civil conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, FDCPA and California UCL claims, venued in the Northern District of California, on a dispositive motion and obtaining dismissal of the Ninth Circuit appeal.

He also has significant real property litigation experience, including winning a three-week binding arbitration over the ownership and development of a prominent Napa Valley hotel implicating complex LLC law issues, where the arbitration award found in the client's favour on all claims and awarded attorneys' fees; representing an international commercial property developer and financier in a dispute involving a $300M commercial real estate project in Silicon Valley; and expunging a lis pendens lien recorded against a $43,000,000 Silicon Valley residence.

In bankruptcy, receivership and employment matters, he has conducted a two-week federal bench trial touching on executive compensation, bankruptcy and tax issues; won summary judgment on breach of contract, fraudulent transfer and alter ego claims entitling a Bankruptcy Trustee client to recover damages and attorney's fees; and regularly represents bankruptcy trustees in adversary proceedings and receivers in receivership proceedings.

He holds a JD from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (2005) and a BA in English Literature from Chico State University (2002).