Jonathan Schneller brings a strategic eye to his clients’ most challenging matters, defending major companies in novel mass-tort cases and counseling internet companies on challenging compliance issues. As the head of O’Melveny’s Artificial Intelligence Industry Group, Jonathan advises clients on AI-related litigation and compliance risks and defends them in lawsuits alleging harms from the use of AI features. He also maintains an active practice counseling internet companies on trust and safety issues, including compliance with the Stored Communications Act and federal CSAM laws.
Jonathan is a leading expert in public-nuisance law and has extensive experience defending internet companies and manufacturers in lawsuits, class actions, and state Attorney General investigations relating to their products and services. His briefing in high-profile matters has been described in the media as “forceful, cogent,” and “passionately written.”
Jonathan recently played a lead role in the following litigation matters:
- Defending a social media company in wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits alleging that online content provoked a mass shooting.
- Securing dismissal for a social media company of a putative class action alleging that online “challenges” harmed school districts.
- Coordinating legal strategy for an auto manufacturer’s defense of tort lawsuits relating to a social media “challenge” involving the manufacturer’s vehicles.
- Coordinating legal strategy for a pharmaceutical company’s defense of governmental opioid lawsuits. Among other successes, Jonathan helped secure a landmark 2021 appellate reversal in the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejecting the novel public-nuisance theories driving the nationwide opioids litigation.
- Securing dismissal for a financial services company of a putative class action alleging that the use of a voice-matching security tool violated California privacy law.
- Representing a health insurer in an action against the US Department of Health and Human Services challenging a Medicare audit regulation.
In addition to his counseling and trial-court practices, Jonathan has extensive appellate experience, having successfully briefed and argued high-stakes appeals in California, New Jersey, and Maryland state courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before rejoining O’Melveny, Jonathan served as a Deputy Federal Public Defender in Los Angeles. Specializing in federal criminal appeals, he repeatedly beat the odds, winning new trials or vindicating his clients altogether. In his pro bono practice at O’Melveny, Jonathan has secured the release of a juvenile offender sentenced to 80-years-to life for an offense he committed at age 14, authored an amicus brief in the Supreme Court’s landmark same-sex marriage decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, and crafted arguments on voting rights, capital punishment, Social Security, and immigration law.
Jonathan lives in Los Angeles with his daughter, Maddie, and is an active member of the community, serving on boards for the RAND Corporation Institute for Civil Justice and the Los Angeles Metropolitan Debate League.
Jonathan graduated cum laude from Princeton University, where he was national champion of the American Parliamentary Debate Association, and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and winner of the First-Year and Second-Year Sears Prizes. After law school, he served as a clerk to the Honorable Elena Kagan of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- California
Court Admissions
- US Court of Appeals, Sixth and Ninth Circuits
- US District Court, Central District of California
Education
- Harvard Law School, JD: summa cum laude; Editor, Harvard Law Review; First- and Second-Year Sears Prize
- Princeton University, AB, History: cum laude; National Champion, American Parliamentary Debate Association
Honors & Awards
- Recommended by The Legal 500 US for Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action Defense: Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices (2021, 2023-2024), Consumer Products (2021, 2023-2024), Automotive/Transport (2023-2024) and Toxic Tort (2023)
- Recognized by Bloomberg Law “They Got Next” as one of top 40 lawyers under 40 in the United States (2021)
- Recognized by Daily Journal as one of top 40 lawyers under 40 in California (2021)
Professional Activities
Speaker
- Panelist, “Legal/Risk Management: Intel That Can Protect Your Venue,” 2023 VenuesNow Conference (September 2023)
Clerkships
- Honorable Elena Kagan, Supreme Court of the United States
- Honorable Stephen Reinhardt, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Member
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
- Board of Advisors, RAND Corporation Institute for Civil Justice
- Board of Directors, Los Angeles Metropolitan Debate League