- University of California at Berkeley (B.A., 1969)
- UCLA School of Law (J.D., 1972)
Marc Seltzer has practiced law for more than forty-five years, litigating complex cases in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Before joining Susman Godfrey, he was a principal in the law firm of Corinblit & Seltzer, a Professional Corporation. Marc Seltzer’s relationship with the lawyers of Susman Godfrey began in the late 1970’s, when he worked with Steve Susman on the Corrugated Container antitrust case. In the ensuing years, Mr. Seltzer joined forces with Susman Godfrey on a number of other cases. In February 1998, Marc Seltzer became a partner of the firm, and opened the firm’s Los Angeles office. Since then, the firm’s Los Angeles office has become one of the leading litigation boutiques in California.
Marc Seltzer’s involvement in nationally prominent litigation began in the mid-1970’s, when he was tapped by Jack Corinblit to work on the massive Equity Funding securities litigation. That case consisted of more than 100 consolidated class and individual cases, and was settled in 1976 for over $60 million, then the largest recovery ever achieved in a securities fraud class action. See In re Equity Funding Corp. of America Securities Litigation, 438 F. Supp. 1303 (C.D. Cal. 1977). Later, in the 1980’s, Mr. Seltzer was appointed by the Los Angeles federal court to serve as sole lead counsel to represent the plaintiff class in the ZZZZ Best securities fraud case. The ZZZZ Best fraud was described by the United States Attorney for the Central District of California as “the most massive and elaborate securities fraud perpetrated on the West Coast in over a decade,” harking back to the Equity Funding case. The case resulted in several important published decisions sustaining plaintiffs’ claims. See In re ZZZZ Best Securities Litigation, 864 F. Supp. 960 (C.D. Cal. 1994).
Since joining the firm, Mr. Seltzer has continued to represent both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of high stakes cases. Among other prominent cases, Mr. Seltzer served as co-trial counsel with Steve Susman in representing Frank McCourt in his marital property litigation with his former wife which involved competing claims to ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2015, Mr. Seltzer successfully argued the appeal taken by Ms. McCourt from the order denying her motion to set aside the settlement reached in that case.
In the In re Toyota Motor Corp. Unintended Acceleration Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, Marc Seltzer was appointed by the Court to serve as one of the co-lead counsel for the economic loss class action plaintiffs. After three years of hard fought litigation, an historic settlement was reached valued by the Court at approximately $1.6 billion, with the class receiving net benefits valued at approximately $1.4 billion.
Mr. Seltzer is currently leading Susman Godfrey’s efforts as one of co-lead counsel for plaintiffs in In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, pending in the Detroit federal court. The United States Department of Justice has called the cartels that are the subject of this litigation the largest group of price-fixing conspiracies ever uncovered. The cases have been partially settled for more than a billion dollars.
In 2019, Seltzer was named one of the “Thought Leaders in Competition – Plaintiff” by Who’s Who Legal (Law Business Research Ltd). Seltzer is one of only seventeen lawyers in the United States and one of only twenty six lawyers across the world to receive this distinction.
In 2020 and 2021 Seltzer was named one of California’s “Top Antitrust Lawyers” by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. In 2018, Seltzer was named one of thirty “Top Plaintiffs Lawyers” and one of the “Top 100 Lawyers” in California by the same publication. He was named a “Top Plaintiffs Lawyer” again in 2022. Seltzer was honored twice in late 2017 for his ground-breaking antitrust work. In December, 2017, he was named an “Competition MVP” by Law360 and in September 2017, Seltzer was named a “Giant Slayer” by The Recorder (ALM Publication). These recognition were in large part due to his leadership roles in In re: Auto Parts and In re Animation Workers Antitrust Litigation, the latter in which Seltzer took on the world’s largest animation companies, including Disney, Pixar, Lucasfilm Ltd., Dreamworks and Sony, on behalf of animation employees and recovered nearly $170 million.
In December 2013, Mr. Seltzer was named to Law360’s annual list of legal “MVPs.” He was one of just three attorneys in the nation selected by Law360 for recognition in the Class Action category. He has also been named to the International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers & Economists. Nominees were selected by Global Competition Review based upon “comprehensive, independent survey work with both general counsel and private practice lawyers worldwide.” Seltzer has been named to this list many times, most recently in 2018.
Additionally, Mr. Seltzer’s many significant class action achievements helped secure Susman Godfrey’s recognition as Law360’s “Class Action Group of the Year” in 2017 and 2018.
Over his many years of practice, Mr. Seltzer has also represented defendants in antitrust, securities, copyright, trademark, trade secret, unfair competition, class action and other complex litigation.
Mr. Seltzer has also been recognized for his service to the legal community.