Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner is an intellectual property boutique with the breadth and capability (as well as the nationally recognized status in the practice) of a full-service law firm. The firm maintains one of the leading and most active practices dedicated to PTAB disputes and has been especially noteworthy for its handling of appeals. In addition to its heavy-hitting patent practice, the firm also remains highly regarded for trademark and copyright litigation as well. DC-based Douglas Rettew is one of the go-to litigators for trademark litigation. He has represented some of the largest brands in the world, including Capital One, a client that he has recently been representing in several actions in courts throughout the US. Over the last year he has obtained two permanent injunctions against companies in trademark infringement cases. Other major worldwide clients he has represented in the last year include Nestle, Combe, and Under Armour.
In the life sciences space, the firm is highly regarded, earning top-tier standings in patent litigation and Hatch-Waxman cases for leading industry leading companies in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries. The DC office also houses Paul Browning and James Monroe who are two patent litigators with extensive experience in Hatch-Waxman disputes. Reston-based partner Charles Lipsey is a seasoned litigator who is also deeply involved in patent related litigation and acts as one of the lead partners representing AstraZeneca in its Hatch-Waxman dispute against Zydus Pharmaceuticals regarding the client’s billion-dollar drug FARXIGA.
Recognized in jurisdictions around the country for its litigation aptitude in labor & employment, data privacy, and a litany of other practice areas, Hunton Andrews Kurth continues to build a legal footprint of much further reach and wider renown.
Hunton's Richmond office is a central firm stronghold, remaining among the most active of its regional practices, and is home to former Solicitor General of the State of West Virginia and issues & appeals practice chair Elbert Lin. Lin recently achieved an appellate victory on behalf of Oath, Inc. – the name under which the combined entities of AOL and Yahoo! were known during the period when they were owned by Verizon prior to a recent acquisition by Apollo Global Management – in a federal defamation suit brought by former Trump advisor Carter Page who filed claims concerning a series of articles published by Yahoo! News and HuffPost regarding the US investigation into his contact with Russian officials, was initially met with a federal court decision dismissing his case on jurisdictional grounds. Page then engaged in a series of appellate attempts to have the decision overturned – Lin and the team fending off the appeals at every turn – until the matter was wrapped up once and for all with a final affirmance from the Delaware Supreme Court. Also hailing from the Richmond outfit, George “Trey” Sibley’s practice emphasizes matters of environmental permitting, while in D.C., environmental practice head Deidre Duncan focuses on compliance in addition to permitting. The two are often active in these regards on high-stakes proceedings with the potential to markedly reshape the landscape of EPA regulation. Michael Shebelskie of Richmond is also noted for his expertise in litigation in the environmental sphere, year after year garnering national praise.
The firm’s network of Texas-based offices is also recognized as a critical pillar of its formidable litigation power. Hailing from the Houston office, perhaps the most notable of offices in the state, Cameron Pope is an appellate-oriented practitioner with experience in toxic torts, labor & employment, and oil & gas litigation. Pope is currently involved in a theft of trade secrets matter on which a team of the firm’s litigators serves as lead counsel to the plaintiff and major oil & gas PVT software provider Calsep. The team has been successful in securing the approval of both a $10 million damages award and rare “death penalty” sanctions against the defendants, who were found to have destroyed evidence during litigation.
Also Houston-based, Thomas Taylor, who serves as litigation co-head, maintains the distinction of being among the firm’s most vital and active of practitioners. Working in both trial and appellate regards, Taylor’s practice centralizes multidistrict litigation and multi-part matters, emphasizing disputes arising in the oil & gas sector.
In Austin, Scott Brister serves as issues and appeals practice co-head and enjoys a broad assortment of litigation capabilities. Brister recently represented Sirius XM in a matter in the Texas Supreme Court which provided critical clarification as to the Texas Tax Code. Sirius, filing suit seeking a $2.5 million refund of franchise taxes paid under protest, interpreted the statute in question in the matter as looking to the location of a taxpayer’s personnel and equipment to establish where a business is to be taxed, whereas the Comptroller’s interpretation was that taxation occurs in the location of the end-product act. Brister, who served as lead on all briefs and co-counsel in the preparation of oral argument, was crucial to Sirius’s reading of tax law being adopted by the Texas Supreme Court.
The nationally recognized labor and employment practice at Hunton Andrews Kurth is accomplished in both employment litigation and traditional labor disputes. The firm’s reach extends across the US with offices in active markets such as California, Texas, Georgia, and DC. This year, Virginia-based partner Kurt Larkin is recognized on the inaugural Top 10 Traditional Labor Lawyers. He is distinguished for his exceptional work in traditional labor, handling collective bargaining negotiations, union organizing, and high-stakes National Labor Relations Boarddisputes. Larkin has worked alongside the employment team in matters that involve labor issues, recently pairing up with employment litigator Emily Burkhardt Vicente in several matters. As a member of the Los Angeles office, Burkhardt Vicente has dedicated a significant portion of her practice to litigating Fair Labor Standards Act class and collective actions and Private Attorneys General Act(PAGA)claims. Her employment litigation practice also spans other areas, as she and the co-head of the unfair competition and information protection task force, Roland Juarez,are handling a trade secrets case in the Southern District of California. Juarez is among the firm’s experts in employee mobility litigation. The LA office also houses Michele Beilke and Julia Trankiem,who bringa wealth of experience in handling California employment litigation. The duo previously represented a client in a JAMS arbitration. Beilke in particular is wellversed in handling arbitrations, as well as jury trials. San Francisco-based partner Brett Burns is consistently tapped by national companies to handle their complex employment class and collective actions across the US. While Burns is especially known for his wage and hour expertise, he has recently been a lead partner in a class action and investigation that involves one of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s high priority issues.
On the other coast, the DC office features a host of lawyers recognized for their successful labor and employment litigation practice. Susan Wiltsie is among the group’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) experts with vast experience in handling defense against citations, litigation, and whistleblower-related claims. Ryan Bates has recently been active in trade secrets litigation, as well as class and collective actions ranging from wage and hour to independent contractor claims. Kevin White is the co-chair of the firm’s labor and employment practice. He splits his time between handling employment litigation and labor disputes. White’s labor practice has had him engaged in matters alongside the firm’s traditional labor experts. Robert Quackenboss has developed a niche and successful practice defending clients in class actions alleging that background checks violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In the Northeast, Boston-based Christopher Pardo represents clients in the region with multiple recent cases in New York district courts. He litigates a vast array of employment matters, recently including trade secrets and restrictive covenants, pay frequency violation allegations, and Title VII discrimination claims.
In addition to Larkin, Ryan Glasgow operates out of the Virginia office. His breadth of experience is broad and diverse; however, he has developed a specialty in defending employers against wage and hour class actions. Farther South, in the firm’s Georgia office is Robert Dumbacher, another of the firm’s partners who seamlessly splits his time between labor relations and employment litigation. Kurt Powell is also a partner within the Virginia office.His practice focuses on employment litigation, with a recent matter being a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in the Northern District of Georgia. Juan Enjamio of the Miami office serves a host of industry-leading national clients. His recent cases have included class and collective actions under the FCRA and defending clients in the rare intersect of immigration and employment litigation – allegations of discrimination brought by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients.
The firm’s practice spans two offices in Texas. In Houston, Scott Nelson received praise from a peer who attests to the partner’s reputation in mentioning that they “think very highly of him.” Nelson has defended Marathon Oil in a series of separately filed independent contractor cases throughout Texas’ district courts. In one of the cases, the plaintiff filed a collective action and seeks to broadly define a potential class of plaintiffs. Nelson successfully persuaded the Southern District of Texas to enforce arbitration, even though the client had an agreement with the co-defendant, Bedrock, but not the client. The Dallas office features Amber Rogers, a traditional labor lawyer representing management in multifarious labor disputes. She is experienced in collective bargaining, elections and representing clients in unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board. Alan Marcuis is the co-head of the unfair competition and information task force alongside his counterpart Juarez in California. His practice is a mix of traditional labor disputes and employment litigation.