Chairman and world-renowned litigator John B. Quinn shares his secrets to success

In the legal world, the name John B. Quinn is synonymous with success. Since co-founding his Los Angeles-headquartered law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in 1986, Quinn has helped grow the firm into a global litigation powerhouse with offices in over ten countries worldwide.

Specialising in litigation and arbitration with a strong interest in tech law, Quinn Emanuel boasts the world’s largest intellectual property litigation practice, securing landmark client wins. The firm won a $1.1B ruling for clients CalTech against Apple and Broadcom over the university’s patent for nascent Wi-Fi technology. In discussing the firm’s experience with legal questions around innovation and technology, Quinn notes how the expansion of big data is one of the key emerging areas of law to watch.

“Anything related to data is important: issues of privacy, data breach, and certainly AI,” he states. “This technology is new and pervasive, and we’re still navigating how we use it in business and everyday life. Legally, we’re figuring out how to answer the questions around such technology as it arises. Every lawyer should follow it, as it concerns us all.”

As the chairman of an international firm, Quinn is constantly on the move, keeping his eye on worldwide emerging trends in the legal sphere. When asked what his top business traveller essentials were, his answer was surprising: eye shades and swim goggles.’ Clarifying, he notes,

“While I value hard work, no one works best without some downtime. You have to find time for your hobbies and care for yourself. As an Ironman athlete, I always make time for triathlon training—swimming, cycling, and running. It gives me time to decompress and allow my thoughts to gather. You find peace in the repetition of endurance sports—it’s just you, your breath, the open road, or the pool lane. You’d be surprised by how many thoughts and solutions can come when you give them space to develop.”

To Quinn, finding ways to maintain top performance have been key to his success. Unsurprisingly, even his triathlon hobby requires hard work and dedication. “Practising law at the highest level is very labour intensive,” he notes. “Those aspiring to work in the legal industry must be prepared to work hard.”

Yet the work ethic isn’t the total of what makes a brilliant lawyer. “Beyond talent and hard work, the best lawyers possess an innate resourcefulness and creativity,” he advises. “You need to be able to find solutions where others would not see them. Finding imaginative approaches is key to success in any field—the law is no different. Work hard and keep your eyes open: you never know where you might find your next ally or bright idea.”

Reflecting on his firm, Quinn shares that the philosophy driving Quinn Emanuel’s continued growth was a client-first focus. “Our goal was always that the client would have a great experience with our firm—that they’d get great results at a reasonable price. That way, they would return to us if they ever had a problem in the future. As large as Quinn Emanuel has grown, that goal has never shifted. We remain focused on litigation and arbitration because we know we can do that one thing exceptionally well, getting wins for our clients. Even our expansion has been informed on how to meet our clients where they need us—we opened offices in Germany and China largely to support our patent litigation practice, to be in the places where we would be needed.”

Quinn concluded,

“It might sound simple enough, but it works: if you deliver good results with integrity, people will want to work with you.”

As it turns out, sometimes the secret to success is not that mysterious.