U.S. Patent Contentious Firm of the Year
Managing Intellectual Property named Kirkland the 2008 “U.S. Patent Contentious Firm of the Year” at its first North American IP Awards in Washington, D.C. The Firm also won the “Patent Contentious Firm of the Year” for the Northeast and West regions.
Partner John Desmarais received the award for “Outstanding IP Practitioner of the Year.”
The award winners were chosen by the magazine’s research team, based on extensive interviews with peers and clients.
MIP’s comments:
U.S. Patent Contentious Firm of the Year
Kirkland & Ellis boasts depth across the U.S. and has the star power to support its ranking as a leading firm for contentious patent work. An impressive number of highly respected lawyers in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. make Kirkland a force to be reckoned with in almost any courtroom. Last year, the firm obtained the first- and second-highest jury awards of 2007 in patent infringement cases for clients Alcatel-Lucent and Biedermann Motech, respectively, and also helped GlaxoSmithKline to secure the landmark preliminary injunction against the USPTO’s proposed rules package on patent claims and continuations.
Patent Contentious Firm of the Year - Northeast
Kirkland & Ellis’s powerful New York office includes patent litigation stars such as the headline-grabbing John Desmarais, and it has quickly become one of the leading practices in the most competitive market in the country. Last year, Desmarais and New York partners Robert Appleby, Paul Bondor, Alan Kellman and Michael Stadnick secured an unprecedented $1.5 billion jury award for Alcatel-Lucent in its patent infringement case against Microsoft.
Patent Contentious Firm of the Year - West
Kirkland & Ellis’s singular reputation for patent litigation extends to the west coast, with stars such as Bob Krupka in Los Angeles and Eric Lamison in San Francisco. Last year, Los Angeles partner Luke Dauchot helped client Biedermann Motech to win a $226.3 million jury award — the second-largest U.S. patent infringement jury award of 2007, after the firm’s win for Alcatel-Lucent in the same year — against Medtronic. The decision also marked one of the first cases to apply the Supreme Court’s directives in KSR v. Teleflex.
Outstanding IP Practitioner of the Year
Few IP lawyers have been as influential in 2007 as John Desmarais. He represented Alcatel-Lucent in its high-profile patent infringement battle with Microsoft in February, before leading the team of external counsel that represented GSK in its campaign against the USPTO’s rules package in November.
