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Overview

Reuben Camper Cahn is a courtroom advocate of rare experience and ability.  A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Reuben has tried over 100 cases to jury verdict and has argued twice before the Supreme Court (in 2011 and 2018), in addition to numerous arguments before both the 9th and 11th Circuits.  His current practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense, and appellate litigation.

Reuben is a graduate of Stanford University’s English Honors Program and of Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.  Following graduation, he clerked for the Honorable Lawrence W. Pierce of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  Reuben began his career in New York at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and then at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he worked in securities litigation and international arbitration for a combined four years.

Spurred by his desire to be a trial lawyer and to serve the public, Reuben left corporate litigation to become a public defender, first in the State of Florida and then in the federal courts. There, Reuben distinguished himself in representing clients charged in matters presenting extraordinary factual and legal challenges, ranging from capital murder to securities fraud.  He quickly rose to become the Chief Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida.  Recruited to become the Executive Director of Federal Defenders of San Diego, Reuben continued to try cases and argue appeals while running an office of 140 employees and managing a budget of $26 million.  He argued twice before the Supreme Court, served as “learned counsel” in the high profile case of United States v. Loughner, and led a team that obtained the release of two clients held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and charged as enemy combatants.

Reuben also established himself as a leader in the Federal Defender community, serving for ten years as one of its two representatives to the Judicial Conference of the United States.  In recognition of this leadership, the Chief Justice of the United States appointed Reuben to the Conference’s special committee to review the Criminal Justice Act. He has chaired the Magistrate Judges Selection Committee of the Southern District of Florida and held numerous other positions of distinction and responsibility. 

Reuben has defended a wide range of matters, involving tax, public corruption, fraud, money laundering, RICO, Continuing Criminal Enterprise charges, and virtually every other type of white collar case.  He has been lead counsel in federal capital cases, including one that resulted in complete acquittal and another that ended with a unanimous life verdict.  Reuben has been appointed “counsel learned in the law” by federal judges in over 15 capital trial cases.

Representative Matters

  • Represented CashCall and its CEO/sole owner Paul Reddam in:
    • A ground-breaking transactional legal malpractice case against AmLaw 100 law firm, Katten Muchin, and its partner Claudia Callaway.  CashCall/Reddam sought over $900 million in damages for claims of malpractice in advising them to enter into partnership with a Native-American lender and issuing numerous opinion letters supporting the partnership and facilitating over $800 million in borrowing.  Reuben defeated defendants’ attempts to apply DC contributory negligence law, exclude critical evidence of malpractice, and limit damages evidence before achieving a favorable settlement.
    • An appeal by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) of a District Court order denying restitution addressing equitable limits on restitution awards under the Supreme Court’s decision in Liu v. SEC and remedy for CFPB’s Appointments Clause violation.
  • Represented AIG following reversal of a $70 million bad faith verdict in favor of Victualic Company of America.  After establishing that the verdict’s reversal was unqualified, Reuben developed evidence that Victaulic knew its valves were defective and concealed this from its insurers and pled this as an affirmative defense, resulting in a settlement for nuisance value.  
  • Represented I-Hsin Chen, a container magnate from Taiwan, charged in the “Varsity Blues” college admission cheating scandal.
  • Represented Snap, Inc. in products liability cases filed in state and federal courts in Georgia and South Carolina.  
  • Represented YBL Holdings, Inc., K&L Supply Co., and Christy Ryoo, obtaining summary judgment in a $120 million suit brought by the entities’ previous owner.

Audio and Video Oral Arguments

Professional Highlights

Recognition

  • Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
  • Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America (by invitation only, limited to top 0.5% of lawyers nationally)
  • Litigation Star (2024-2025), Benchmark Litigation
  • The Lawdragon
    • 500 Leading Lawyers in America (2021-2024)
    • 500 Leading Litigators in America (2024-2025)
  • The Best Lawyers In America®, S. Naifeh & G. Smith (2021-2025 eds): Commercial Litigation Practice, Legal Malpractice-Plaintiffs, and White Collar Criminal Defense
  • The Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals
    • “The Top 100 Lawyers in California” (2021)
    • “Top White Collar Lawyers in California” (2020)
  • Los Angeles Magazine, Southern California Super Lawyers® for General Litigation, Insurance Coverage, Professional Liability, and White Collar Criminal Defense (2022-2024)
  • National Association of Federal Defenders, Terrence F. McCarthy Award for career excellence and extraordinary contribution to the Federal Defender program (2016)
  • Defender Programs of San Diego, E. Stanley Conant Award for excellence in representing alleged enemy combatants detained at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (2008)
  • National Association of Federal Defenders, Outstanding Assistant Federal Defender Award for excellence in capital representation including unanimous life verdict in United States v. Jose Denis (2003)
  • Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rodney Thaxton Liberty’s Last Champion Award for exemplary efforts in the face of unusual or overwhelming circumstances” in United States v. Edward Mack, the first acquittal of capital charges in a federal death penalty case of the modern era (1997)
  • 17th Judicial Circuit, Public Defender of the Year Award, given for most jury trials in the prior year (1992)

Speaking Engagements

  • Ways to improve pretrial practices, March 26, 2021, House Judiciary Hearing on Criminal Justice and Pretrial System.
  • Kicked For Cause: The Science of Getting Bad Jurors Out of the Jury Box, September 24, 2019, National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms’ (NAMWOLF), Annual Meeting & Law Firm Expo, Los Angeles, CA.

Positions and Appointments

  • Member, Central District of California Judicial and U.S. Attorney Selection Committees for Senators Feinstein and Butler.
  • Appointed by the Chief Justice to Committee to Review the Criminal Justice Act.
  • Defender representative to the Ninth Circuit’s Standing Committee on Federal Defenders.
  • Co-chair of the Defender Services Advisory Group and Representative to Judicial Conference’s Defender Services Committee.