www.baronandbudd.com 15910 Ventura Blvd., Suite 1600 Los Angeles, CA 91436

Tel: 818.839.2320

Fax: 818.986.9698 

 ROLAND TELLIS BIOGRAPHY

 

Roland Tellis is the Chair of Baron & Budd’s Los Angeles-based Class Action Practice 

Group and manages the firm’s Los Angeles office. His practice focuses on complex, highprofile litigation, including consumer class actions, financial fraud, business torts, corporate 

misconduct, automobile defects, securities fraud and environmental contamination. He has 

held leadership roles in numerous multi-district, complex class action cases, including:

• Appointed Co-Lead Counsel in In re: ARC Airbag Inflators Products Liability 

Litigation, a multi-state class action involving millions of defective airbag inflators.

• Appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in In re: National Prescription 

Opiate Litigation, a multi-state mass tort action filed by governmental entities 

against the manufacturers and distributors of opioids widely believed to be the 

largest MDL case in U.S. history. Achieved a $26 billion settlement against three 

opioid distributors and an opioid manufacturer.

• Appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in In re: Social Media Adolescent 

Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, a multi-state mass tort 

action filed against Meta Platforms, Instagram, TikTok, ByteDance, YouTube, 

Google and Alphabet alleging that defendants’ social media platforms are defective 

because they are designed to encourage addictive behavior in adolescents.

• Appointed Co-Lead Counsel in In re: Kia Hyundai Vehicle Theft Marketing, Sales 

Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, a multi-state class action involving 

millions of defective engine immobilizers. Achieved a $200 million nonreversionary common fund settlement.

• Appointed Co-Lead Counsel in In re: ZF-TRW Airbag Control Units Products 

Liability Litigation, a multi-state class action involving millions of defective airbag 

control units. Achieved a $73 million settlement against one of seven automakers.

• Appointed Co-Lead Counsel in In re: Wells Fargo Collateral Protection Insurance 

Litigation, a nationwide class action case involving forced-placed automobile 

collateral protection insurance. Achieved a $423 million non-reversionary common 

fund settlement which provided payments to consumers without the need for claim 

forms or documentary proof.

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• Appointed Co-Lead Counsel for the Class Action Track in Southern California Gas 

Leak Cases, a coordinated class action filed by property owners against a gas utility 

for causing the largest natural gas leak in U.S. history. Achieved a $40 million nonreversionary common fund settlement for area residents.

• Appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in In re: Volkswagen “Clean 

Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, a multi-state 

class action involving hundreds of thousands of vehicles equipped with “defeat 

devices” designed to evade emissions laws. Achieved a settlement worth more than 

$14.5 billion.

• Appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in In re: Takata Airbag Products 

Liability Litigation, a multi-state class action involving millions of vehicles equipped 

with a defective airbag inflator resulting in the largest automotive recall in U.S. 

history. Achieved a $1.5 billion settlement against seven automaker defendants.

Mr. Tellis has also represented clients in numerous jury trials, including several involving 

hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2005, Mr. Tellis received commendation from the U.S. 

Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his assistance in a 

successful parallel prosecution of a $120 million securities Ponzi scheme perpetrated by 

foreign currency traders. Mr. Tellis also represented the owner of a multi-billion-dollar 

commercial real estate portfolio in a lengthy jury trial over claims of an alleged oral 

partnership and the Screen Actors’ Guild and members of its national board in a leadership 

battle. 

Prior to joining Baron & Budd, Mr. Tellis practiced with the international law firms of 

Bingham McCutchen LLP and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP. There, he litigated 

complex cases on behalf of corporate defendants and tried multi-million-dollar cases to 

verdict.

In 2018, Mr. Tellis was honored with the Los Angeles Daily Journal’s 2018 “California 

Lawyer Attorneys of the Year” award for his role in the Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” MDL. 

Mr. Tellis has also been named among the Best Lawyers in America every year since 2014, 

a Super Lawyer every year since 2009 and was a faculty member of the Practicing Law 

Institute and Chair of its annual program entitled “Taking and Defending Depositions.” He 

was elected to serve on the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers 

and was appointed to serve as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial 

Conference. He was the Chair of the United States District Court for the Central District of 

California’s Attorney Settlement Officer Panel Committee and was appointed by the Chief 

Judge of the Central District of California to the Board of Trustees for the Central District’s 

Attorney Admission Fund. Additionally, Mr. Tellis serves on the Executive Committee of the 

Los Angeles County Bar Association. Along the way, Mr. Tellis has devoted time to the pro 

bono representations of indigent clients and has mentored young lawyers and law students in 

association with the South Asian Bar Association.

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FIRM OVERVIEW

Baron & Budd, P.C. is among the oldest, largest and most accomplished plaintiffs’ law 

firms in the country. With nearly 70 attorneys and 100 support personnel, including 

technical experts, in offices in Dallas, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San 

Diego, Chico and Washington D.C., Baron & Budd has the expertise and resources to 

handle complex litigation throughout the United States. Baron & Budd has garnered 

national acclaim for its complex litigation work and has recovered tens of billions for its 

clients. 

Since the Firm was founded in 1977, Baron & Budd has achieved national acclaim for its 

work on cutting-edge litigation, including:

• Every year since 2013, Baron & Budd has been recognized in the Best Law 

Firms® edition, ranked by Best Lawyers® regionally in three practice areas 

including mass tort litigation/class actions, personal injury litigation, and 

commercial litigation.

• In 2014, Baron & Budd was named by the National Law Journal as one of 

America’s Elite Trial Lawyers.

• In September 2010, Baron & Budd was one of only four firms chosen to serve on 

both the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee and the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee 

of the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill Multi-District Litigation.

• In August 2010, Baron & Budd was retained by the State of Louisiana to provide 

counsel to the State’s designated Trustees in connection with issues related to the 

Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

• In 2002-2006, 2008, 2011-2013, Baron & Budd was named to the National Law 

Journal’s “Plaintiffs’ Hot List” of exemplary plaintiffs’ firms in the United States.

• In 2004, American Lawyer named Baron & Budd one of the sixteen most 

successful plaintiffs’ firms in the country. 

• In 2006, the non-profit Public Justice named a team of Baron & Budd attorneys 

“Trial Lawyer of the Year” for their work on litigation that spanned 21 years, 

involved over 1,600 plaintiffs, and resulted in a total recovery of more than $150 

million.

• In 2007, Budd & Baron was honored with the Wiedemann Wysocki National 

Finance Council Award from the American Association for Justice in recognition 

of its commitment to the legal profession and its efforts to improve the civil 

justice system.

• In 2009, Baron & Budd was a finalist for the Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the 

Year Award for its recovery of more than $400 million on behalf of more than 

150 municipalities from 17 states and for its bank overdraft fee class action 

litigation.

• Baron & Budd has been repeatedly selected by The Legal 500 as one of the 

country’s premier law firms in mass tort claims and class action litigation. 

Additional information about Baron & Budd is available at www.baronandbudd.com. 

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