ATTORNEYS

ABOUT

GILLIAN WADE

Gillian L. Wade is a nationally and internationally recognized class and complex litigation practitioner who founded Wade Kilpela Slade after heading her former firm’s consumer fraud and class action litigation department for over 15 years. Throughout that time, she established a reputation as a fearless, strategic thought leader in the litigation space, whose mix of collaborative and out-of-the-box thinking has won her plaudits from the plaintiffs’ and defense bar, alike.

Over the course of her career, Gillian’s practice has focused on representing plaintiffs in complex litigation and consumer class actions stemming from a wide range of unlawful activities including violations of California’s unfair competition law and false advertising law, antitrust violations, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, data breach and privacy violations, financial abuse of the elderly and disabled statutes, employment violations, warranty and product liability laws, and civil rights abuses. She has been involved in the resolution of over 75 consumer fraud class actions. 

Gillian has been appointed lead or co-lead class counsel in myriad state and federal class actions throughout the United States, including: Burks v. HP Inc., (LASC 2024); Gilmore, et al. v. Monsanto Company, et al. (N.D. Cal. 2023); Abella v. Canyon City Foundation (LASC 2023); Imani Whitfield et al. v. Yes To, Inc. (C.D. Cal. 2021); In re Dollar General Motor Corp. Motor Oil Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation (MDL 2709 2019); Elkies v. Johnson & Johnson (C.D. Cal. 2018); Perez v. Public Storage (LASC 2018); In re Wells Fargo Bank Wage and Hour Cases (LASC 2018); Barba et al. v. Shire U.S. Inc. (S.D. Fla. 2017); Eggnatz v. The Kashi Company (S.D. Fla. 2016); Toney v. Just Fabulous (LASC 2016); Paul v. Wine.com, (SFSC 2016); Arreguin v. Telebrands Corp. (San Bernardino Cty. 2015); McCrary v. The Elations Co., LLC (C.D. Cal. 2014); In re Budeprion XL and Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation (MDL No. 2107) (E.D. Pa. 2014); Saenz v. SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (Alameda Sup. Ct. 2013); Smith, et al. v. Intuit, Inc. (N.D. Cal. 2012); Solomon v. Ramona’s Food Products, (LASC 2013); Keller v. Gaspari Nutrition, Inc. (C.D. Cal. 2011); Weeks, et al. v. Kellogg, et al. (C.D. Cal. 2011); Thompson, et al., v. Biotab Nutraceuticals, Inc. (LASC 2011); Pabst v. Genesco, Inc. (N.D. Cal.); Shaffer v. Continental Casualty Company (C.D. Cal. 2008); and Heath, et al. v. County of San Bernardino (C.D. Cal. 2008). Ms. Wade has also been appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committees in several federal class actions centralized by the MDL Panel, including: In re Nutramax Cosamin Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation (MDL No. 2489)(D. Md.); In re Pom Wonderful Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation (MDL No. 2199)(C.D. Cal.); In re Budeprion XL Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation (MDL No. 2107) (E.D. Pa.); In re Liberty Refund Anticipation Loan Litig. (MDL No. 2334) (N.D. Ill.) and In re H&R Block Refund Anticipation Litig. (MDL No. 2373) (N.D. Ill.).

In addition to representing plaintiffs in complex matters, Gillian has also defended law firms and their clients in cases involving plaintiff-side litigation practices and civil RICO claims, and has represented clients involved in government investigations, including disputes with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Gillian is a frequent lecturer on class action practice, including serving as the Plaintiff side panelist along with Judges and neutrals in a nationwide JAMS Webinar entitled “Cutting Edge Issues In Mediating and Arbitrating Consumer Class/Mass Action Claims” in 2021. In 2020, Gillian served as a plaintiffs-side moderator in the Complex Courts Virtual Symposium, among a panel of California complex court judges on the topic “The Lifecycle, Pitfalls and Best Practices of Class Actions.”

In 2019, Gillian accepted an invitation to join the Outside Advisory Board of the UCLA Resnick Center for Food & Law Policy and she is an executive member of the Litigation Series’ Class Action Litigation Forum and Food Fraud Litigation Forum. She has guest lectured at UCLA Law School and Pepperdine Caruso School of Law about class action litigation and was selected to be on the 2018-2019 executive committee for The Class Action Trial Lawyers Association – Top 25. Gillian has been selected for the list of Southern California Super Lawyers every year since 2013, a distinction awarded to only 5% of lawyers statewide. 

Prior to her career as a plaintiff’s lawyer, Gillian was an attorney at Jones Day where she defended corporations in consumer fraud class actions, ERISA cases, and actions arising under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Gillian proudly serves on the One Love Foundation’s California Regional Advisory Board, an organization dedicated to educating young people about healthy and unhealthy relationships and empowering them to avoid abuse. She is also an active member of Sisters of Sojourn/The People Concern, an organization founded to raise funds for local victims of domestic violence. Gillian is also involved with the Beauty Bus Foundation, which provides beauty and grooming services to seriously ill people and their caregivers, and has co-chaired their annual poker tournament several times. She also serves as an advisor to the Crimes Against Children Foundation, which provides services and resources to law enforcement agencies across the country to fight the internet trafficking of children.

Gillian is a graduate of the University of California at San Diego (B.A. Political Science, 1999) and Pepperdine University (J.D. 2003), where she graduated magna cum laude, was a recipient of the John Purfield Memorial Scholarship for academic excellence, and served as a staff writer for the Pepperdine Law Review.

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