When Swisher International hired Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 2016, the Florida-based tobacco company needed the legal equivalent of a white knight.

It had just been hit with a $44 million jury verdict in an antitrust suit, plus a couple million more in legal fees for plaintiffs counsel from upstart San Francisco litigation boutique Gaw Poe, founded by alums from Morrison & Foerster and O’Melveny & Myers.