Firm overview
Patterson Belknap brings a unique combination of bench strength, trial experience, and commercial business acumen to represent its clients in a variety of highly sophisticated litigation matters. More than half of the firm’s attorneys are devoted to litigation. Our litigation partners have tried hundreds of cases, including many of the most complex in their fields. Over 75 percent of the firm’s litigators have held judicial clerkships, including at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, Federal District Courts, and various State Courts.
Our work includes several areas of commercial litigation, including antitrust matters; commercial disputes; complex financial litigation; class actions; intellectual property, including patent, copyright, false advertising, and trademark disputes; securities and commodities cases; structured finance litigation; employment litigation; real estate workouts and litigation; and disputes among corporate shareholders, among other complex litigation matters.
The firm’s clients include Fortune 500 corporations, as well as individual officers and directors of large companies in industries such as multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers, media conglomerates, and financial institutions. In addition, we represent foreign governments, state-owned enterprises, major banks, brokerage firms, pension funds, insurance companies, major investors, entrepreneurs, and privately- held corporations. We have in-depth experience in a number of industries, including pharmaceuticals; medical devices; consumer products; food and beverage; media and entertainment; financial services and investment management; manufacturing; technology and communications; commercial real estate; and others.
Our litigation team is at the cutting edge of today’s high-profile disputes resulting from the meltdown of the mortgage-backed securities market and global credit crisis. We are the leading law firm representing the monoline insurance industry in its efforts to recover against financial institutions and other sponsors of residential mortgage-backed securities transactions.
The firm is a leader in intellectual property litigation and our attorneys are recognized among the leading practitioners in the nation. Law360 recently named the firm “Intellectual Property Practice Group of the Year.” Additionally, the firm received Benchmark Litigation’s “Impact Case” award for the firm’s victory in a trade secrets case on behalf of a major software company, in which it secured a $2 billion jury verdict for trade secrets misappropriation by a competitor. Our success in patent litigation is facilitated in part by the scientific and technical backgrounds and varied industry experience of many of our attorneys. This includes experience in diverse fields such as chemistry, biochemistry, biology, biotechnology, statistics, mathematics, and chemical, nuclear and electrical engineering. These skills benefit our clients, not only in patent infringement litigation, but also in complex reexamination and interference proceedings before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
In addition, our False Advertising practice is consistently recognized on a national level as being “one of the elite players in false advertising litigation.” Our attorneys have represented both plaintiffs and defendants in false advertising cases throughout the nation.
We advise clients with respect to claims of misappropriation of trade secrets and ideas as both plaintiffs and defendants. We often counsel on ways to make these types of claims less likely and to protect our clients’ secrets and ideas. We regularly represent major corporations in cases of corporate espionage, a growing issue worldwide.
Our widely recognized Media and Entertainment group continues to secure high-profile litigation wins on behalf of media companies, radio and television networks, music companies, cable operators, production companies, publishers, internet companies, and well-known entertainers, among others. In addition to the full range of commercial issues, we represent clients in investigations matters, as well as copyright, trademark, false advertising, First Amendment, libel and slander, rights of privacy and publicity, and other intellectual property disputes.
The firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations team includes several former federal prosecutors, a former Senior Counsel for the SEC’s Enforcement Division, and the former Attorney General of the State of New Jersey. The group conducts sensitive investigations that can be critical in preventing or halting potential criminal and civil problems on behalf of business organizations and individuals. We handle cases involving investigations by state and federal prosecutorial and regulatory agencies throughout the U.S., frequently including litigation components.
The firm also has a specialized anti-counterfeiting practice that works with clients to address the growing global product counterfeiting problem. Our team litigates counterfeiting and product diversion cases on behalf of major international corporations, often involving counterfeit medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and other consumer, industrial, and electronic products where the counterfeit has the potential to cause serious injury or death. Team attorneys have successfully sued and executed seizure orders globally against hundreds of individuals and businesses that have manufactured and distributed counterfeits. This has resulted in the seizure and destruction of millions of counterfeits and the collection of millions of dollars in settlements and judgments. Their efforts have also secured criminal convictions of many counterfeiters and resulted in their incarceration.
The National Law Journal has recognized Patterson Belknap as “a major player in defending law firms against complex liability claims.” Our legal defense practice recently won several high-profile victories for law firms accused of malpractice and related torts. We have defended legal malpractice, conflict of interest, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud claims, represented lawyers in disciplinary proceedings, untangled disputes over partnership compensation, opposed disqualification motions, and represented firms facing third-party subpoenas. The Firm’s Appellate group combines our national recognition in trial work involving advertising, patents, copyrights, trademarks, products liability, false advertising, and media law with the experience of litigators who have successfully argued numerous landmark appeals. Clients work not only with appellate practitioners having a track record of success, but also with practitioners deeply grounded in the subject matter of the appeal.
Updated Aug 2024
