An Exceedingly Impressive Group of Litigator of the (Past) Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Partners Dale Cendali, Diana Torres, Allison Buchner, Lauren Schweitzer and Saghar Esfandiarifard were recognized as runners-up for The American Lawyer Litigation Daily's "Litigator of the Week" contest for their work for PepsiCo Inc.  

"... Also landing runners-up honors are lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis and Baker Botts who helped Pepsico Inc. beat back a trademark infringement challenge to its Mtn Dew Rise energy drinks brought by Rise Brewing, the maker of canned coffee-based and tea-based drinks. U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan granted summary judgment to Pepsico on Aug. 2 citing a Second Circuit opinion that found that “the strong logical associations between ‘Rise’ and coffee represent weakness and place the mark at the low end of the spectrum of suggestive marks.” The team previously secured the cited Second Circuit decision last year, which reversed an earlier preliminary injunction decision from Schofield siding with Rise Brewing in the case. The Kirkland team was led by Dale Cendali, Diana Torres, Allison Buchner, Lauren Schweitzer and Saghar Esfandiarifard. The Baker Botts team was led by Susan Kennedy, Paul Reilly and Monica Smith."