Connecticut

Axinn has carved out a niche by specializing in the overlap of intellectual property and antitrust, in addition to its record of complex and high-profile cases. Its offices are based in the northeast – New York, District of Columbia, and Hartford, Connecticut – apart from its California residence in San Francisco. Clients routinely point out the firm’s diversity in its teams as well as its casework. 

     While the firm has expanded beyond its Connecticut beginnings, the Hartford headquarters continues to be a dominant force in litigation. The Hartford office has three of the firm’s top intellectual property litigators. Matt Becker and Ted Mathias lead the team defending Alvogen in a patent infringement lawsuit filed in the District of New Jersey by Indivior in relation to the client’s generic Suboxone film product. This case follows a District of Delaware case in which the team prevailed. Beck and Mathias were joined by Chad Landmon to defend Norwich, an Alvogen company, against a patent infringement case filed by Takeda. The lawsuit involves 18 patents and more than 400 patent claims. Landmon and Becker lead the case at the federal circuit with Mathias. Landmon recently secured a favorable ruling in a four-day trial representing Norwich Pharmaceuticals. The District of Delaware issued a full opinion asserting that the claims related to the composition of matter and methods of using rifaximin are invalid as obvious. Both Landmon and Becker specialize in serving the life sciences industry. Becker’s expertise is in Hatch-Waxman lawsuits and Landmon’s secondary expertise is handling matters related to the Food and Drug Administration. Mathias’ biotechnology focus involves industries beyond the life sciences to include technology and software companies and related issues. 

     The firm’s office in the District of Columbia features antitrust specialist Rachel Adcox, who joined her colleagues as a Litigation Star this year. Adcox has also represented Alvogen, but in an antitrust context. She has led the team in defending the company in the Generic Drugs MDL litigated in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The case was filed by 44 attorneys general. A Department of Justice criminal antitrust investigation arose out of the matter as well. Adcox defends the client against allegations that pharmaceuticals companies raised prices of generic medications. The case has garnered significant media and public attention and continues to be litigated nationwide. Adcox and New York antitrust litigator Denise Plunkett were lead counsels in a case defending Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies in a lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to prevent the plaintiff, Pharmacychecker.com, from accessing platforms to promote the importation of pharmaceuticals outside the US. Adcox and Plunkett secured early and exclusive discovery that provided the basis for summary judgment. Plunkett’s trial flair was also featured in a high-profile case representing World Chess Champion and Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen in a defamation and antitrust lawsuit alleging Section 1 and 2 violations filed by Grandmaster Hans Neimann in the Eastern District of Missouri. Plunkett moved to dismiss the plaintiff’s initial lawsuit, but the court allowed for an amended complaint. She has again renewed the motion to dismiss which has been fully briefed. Aziz Burgy is one of the top life sciences litigators in the DC office. He represents Endo Ventures and Par Pharmaceuticals against competitor Nexus in a patent infringement lawsuit involving ready-to-use ephedrine prefilled syringe products yet to hit the market. Several lawsuits have been filed over the patents for the newly approved products. Endo and Par’s case against Nexus settled; however, Burgy is also representing Nevakar in a closely watched case against Baxter related to the same ready-to-use product. 

Wiggin and Dana is routinely referenced as “arguably the strongest and deepest firm in Connecticut.” While the firm certainly has a strong foothold in the Nutmeg State – with six offices, in New Haven, Hartford, Stamford, Greenwich, Westport and Madison – it also has a more expansive footprint that encompasses New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Palm Beach, Florida, housing a total of approximately 70 litigators. The firm is also recognized outside the state’s boundaries for its work, with appellate work on a national level and even incorporating international aspects. “Wiggin and Dana are big in the insurance world,” testifies one peer. “They represent The Hartford nationwide and they also do some work for Zurich.” Another insists, “You’ve got to respect Wiggin and Dana. They even have close ties with Cravath [Swaine and Moore]! You don’t get that kind of alliance unless you’ve got the goods.”
     Speaking to the firm’s insurance prowess, The Hartford has called on the firm’s appellate services – and specifically those of New Haven’s Jonathan Freiman – for its business-interruption claims brought by a host of entities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Wiggin’s New Haven office has also historically been counsel to Elm City institution Yale University in a diverse host of matters. In another COVID-related case, Freiman represented this client on appeal regarding class actions filed by students claiming they were owed refunds because of having to transition to remote learning. Wiggin is also “doing a lot of professional liability work, malpractice and the like.” In this area, Hartford’s Timothy Diemand represents a New England-based law firm in a dispute with former clients who sued, seeking hundreds of millions in damages. Benjamin Diessel, based in New Haven, works as co-counsel with the aforementioned Cravath representing Epic Games – the maker of the popular videogame Fortnite – against Apple, in what has been called “the World War III of antitrust” regarding the availability of Fortnite on Apple’s app store. Wiggin is also said to have a prominent international compliance group. “This is a fairly new practice for [Wiggin] but they have actually been REPLACING bigger and better-known firms on these types of cases when the client isn’t happy with the turnout,” offers a peer. “David Ring (who works from the DC and New Haven offices) does a lot of that work – like a monitorship role when there are export violations.”