District of Columbia

Firm overview

Full-service IP firm: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP is one of the world’s leading intellectual property law firms, practicing all aspects of patent, trademark, and copyright law. It is a true one-stop shop for all IP matters, with experts in every area of IP and technology. The firm also provides counseling and litigation services in advertising, privacy, and a wide spectrum of additional IP-adjacent commercial matters. Its comprehensive approach to clients’ IP needs and Finnegan’s mega-boutique size underpins its year-to-year, decade-to-decade pre-eminence in IP litigation across all industries and tribunals.

Global presence: With offices in the United States, Asia, and Europe, Finnegan’s multinational team represents clients on IP issues relating to European, German, UK, and U.S. IP law.

Industry and technical expertise: Finnegan offers full-service IP legal and technical experience in virtually every industry and technology: biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biologics and biosimilars, combination products, chemicals, oil and gas, electronics, semiconductors, computers and software, FinTech, Internet of Things (IoT), automotive, aerospace and aviation, industrial manufacturing, consumer products, food and beverage, outdoor recreation, sports and fitness, digital health, medical devices, clean energy and renewables, robotics, textiles, artificial intelligence (AI), and 3D printing.

IP-focused talent: With Finnegan’s practice centered on intellectual property, the firm is positioned to create economies of scale and focus all resources on providing the best tools and teams for clients. In the past five years, Finnegan has filed over 675 IP-related district court cases. The firm’s team is comprised of over 250 litigators, including career trial attorneys. Over 275 of Finnegan’s legal professionals hold degrees in scientific disciplines (more than 75 hold PhDs). Over 215 professionals are registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), European Patent Office (EPO), the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

ANDA litigation: Since being involved in the very first ANDA litigation, Finnegan has been a leading firm representing innovative pharmaceutical companies before federal district courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Our successes derive from a deep bench of experienced and technically sophisticated attorneys who understand the long-term plans of innovative pharmaceutical companies, as well as the legal particularities of ANDA litigation under the Hatch-Waxman Act and the nuances of pharmaceutical patent law. Over the last five years, our attorneys have represented more than 20 brand companies in more than 450 ANDA litigations involving revolutionary drugs such as Brilinta®, Farxiga®, Relistor®, Jublia®, Aptiom®, KISQALI®, ORILISSA®, and Abilify®. We consistently have 150+ ongoing ANDA litigations every year, providing counselling and litigation services for a range of technologies such as antibodies, automated DNA sequencing, diagnostics, imaging agents and other research tools, molecular mechanism infringement claims, and protein therapies.

International Trade Commission (ITC) litigation: When it comes to ITC litigation, Finnegan was litigating IP cases at the ITC long before it became the popular forum it is today. Litigating in the ITC presents a unique challenge—litigating a technologically complicated case in a short period of time, in a pressure-packed forum that can make or break the commercial success of the products at issue. At the ITC, summary determination is rare, and approximately 45 percent of Section 337 cases go to trial, all in front of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), not a jury. When choosing a firm to litigate in the ITC, trial experience in the ITC is of paramount importance. In the past five years, Finnegan attorneys have been involved in more than 10 percent of Section 337 cases. Over 150 of the firm’s attorneys have litigated at the ITC. Finnegan also has practitioners with ITC experience in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and mechanical fields. Our attorneys have even tried ITC cases involving design patents and trademarks. During the past two years, more than half of all ITC cases have involved electrical and IT- related technologies and semiconductors; Finnegan has more than 80 lawyers and over 20 professionals who have at least one degree in electrical engineering, computer science, or some other related form of specialized technology.

Trademark litigation: Finnegan’s trademark litigation practice spans numerous industries and covers all types of trademark rights, including service marks, trade dress, product configuration, trade names, domain names, letters, numbers, colors, and telephone numbers. Representing both plaintiffs and defendants, our lawyers have decades of experience litigating both large and small trademark cases before courts throughout the country and regularly appear before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and its Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), the federal circuit courts of appeal, district courts, and other tribunals. We have an impressive track record of favorably resolving litigious matters for our clients, whether by choosing a forum that gives clients the best chance to win on the law, filing a motion to dismiss, obtaining an early temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction, positioning a case for settlement, moving for summary judgment, or taking the case to trial. One of our strengths is the use of experts to enhance our clients’ legal positions. For many years, we have worked with numerous consumer survey experts on a wide range of issues in trademark litigation, including likelihood of confusion, likelihood of dilution, genericness, secondary meaning, and fame. We also make strategic use of other experts in areas such as linguistics, marketing, consumer psychology, industry practices, and damages.

Practice Areas:

• Advertising
• Copyright
• Design Rights
• European, German, and UK IP Law
• Export Control
• IP Litigation
• Patent Office Examinations
• Patent Portfolio Management, Monetization, and Transactions
• Post-Grant Proceedings
• Privacy
• Trademark
• Trade Secrets

Other Offices:

North America: Atlanta · Boston · Palo Alto · Reston · Washington, DC

Europe: London · Munich

Asia: Seoul · Shanghai · Taipei · Tokyo

Updated Sep 2024

Firm overview

Cravath strives to be the firm of choice for clients facing their most difficult and critical litigation. We are not just litigators; we are trial lawyers. We are trained across multiple disciplines, which enables us to think outside the box and apply creative solutions to complex matters, regardless of the subject matter, industry or client’s role in a particular dispute. The credibility and experience we bring to each matter and our preparation of each case from the outset as if it is going to trial give us a strategic advantage in all steps of litigation.

Updated Sep 2025

Firm overview

A&O Shearman distinguishes itself by harnessing the intellectual strength and deep experience of its lawyers across its extensive global footprint. The firm represents many of the world’s leading corporations, financial institutions, emerging growth companies, governments, and state-owned enterprises. Those clients, in turn, continue to choose A&O Shearman for its ability to leverage the knowledge and judgment of one of the world’s largest and most accomplished cross-border legal teams—a team ideally situated to help clients on their complex business transactions.

Our lawyers have vast experience litigating, arbitrating, investigating, and resolving disputes across multiple jurisdictions. We have the depth of experience and breadth of knowledge to assist in any significant dispute, having served as counsel in high-stakes, complex cases for some of the world’s most recognizable companies. We focus on meeting our clients’ goals, whether litigating a matter through trial and appeal or negotiating a business resolution. We understand our clients’ immediate and long-term needs and consistently deliver successful results.

In an increasingly volatile world, our understanding of the different legal and political landscapes in which our clients operate drives our approach to dispute resolution. We provide our clients with sophisticated risk-management counsel, and trial-tested teams with a track record of success, who are ready to litigate aggressively to defend our clients’ interests at all costs.

A&O Shearman has experience in a wide range of substantive areas including:

Securities Litigation:
Our securities litigation practice is a core component of our market-leading litigation group. With a deep bench of attorneys focusing on this area of law, we are ready to handle any securities dispute. Through years of success, we have become the go-to counsel for numerous public companies and financial institutions, as well as their officers and directors. We recognize that every securities matter is also a business matter. Each case can potentially pose a significant threat, and – if not handled with the appropriate care and sensitivity – can cause major reputational and financial risks.

White Collar Defense and Global Investigations:
Our preeminent white-collar defense and global investigations practice takes a holistic, coordinated approach to navigating our clients through criminal, regulatory and internal investigations. We have both local depth and global reach, and the majority of our work is cross-border. We bring a deep understanding of the laws of different jurisdictions and investigation practices across the globe, bolstered by the experience and insights from the more than 20 former prosecutors and regulators on our team.

Antitrust Litigation:
Our global antitrust team advises corporates, private equity and financial institutions on their most significant transactions, investigations, and litigation. The breadth and scale of our U.S., U.K., and EU practice together with our global network and industry knowledge makes us uniquely placed to advise on complex multijurisdictional matters involving parallel proceedings and inter-agency co-operation.

M&A Litigation:
We have unparalleled expertise in representing major international companies, investment banks, private equity firms, boards of directors, special committees, and other parties involved in high-stakes transactional litigation. We advise on all aspects of M&A disputes, from pre-deal due diligence, risk assessment and mitigation to post-closing claims and remedies, and shareholder disputes. Our deep expertise in M&A litigation across the globe, including in the Delaware Court of Chancery and state and federal courts across the U.S., distinguishes us in the market.

Complex Commercial Litigation:
We have represented corporations, partnerships, joint ventures, and other entities in a variety of business-related disputes relating to breach of contract, fraud, professional malpractice, business torts, and insurance and reinsurance matters.

Intellectual Property Litigation:
We represent the world’s leading businesses, helping them to invest in and protect their critical intellectual property as well as defending them when plaintiffs allege that they have violated intellectual property rights. Whether developing, acquiring, registering, licensing, or enforcing IP rights – or defending against alleged IP violations – we help our clients to navigate the legal and commercial challenges they face globally.

Employment Litigation:
We handle disputes arising from terminations, team moves, whistleblowing, and trade-restraint matters, as well as allegations of misconduct, discrimination and harassment. We have a track record of delivering successful outcomes whether via obtaining or defending injunctions, resolving claims through mediation or arbitration, or litigating in court or before employment tribunals.

Cybersecurity:
We help multinational organizations identify, mitigate, and manage cyber threats. We work with our clients to build their operational resilience and cyber-readiness with robust, tailored compliance programs and governance processes, which address both their own risks and those posed by their supply chain partners.

Arbitration:
We have decades of experience advising and representing clients in complex cross-border commercial arbitrations and investor-state disputes under the rules of all the leading institutions. We are known for our skill in arbitration-related court proceedings - including multijurisdictional enforcement strategies - ensuring we can take cases from inception to their ultimate conclusion. We also regularly advise on complex issues of public international law.

Updated July 2024

Firm overview

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP provides the highest quality legal advice and representation to clients around the world. The results the firm achieves have set it apart for more than 140 years and have become a model for the modern practice of law. Today, S&C is a leader in each of its core practice areas and in each of its geographic markets. The firm advises a diverse range of clients on major domestic and cross-border M&A and corporate finance transactions, high-stakes litigation and corporate investigations and complex regulatory, tax and estate planning matters. Headquartered in New York, S&C comprises more than 875 lawyers who serve clients around the world through a network of 13 offices, located in leading financial centers in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States.

Main Areas of Practice:

Antitrust: Sullivan & Cromwell represents clients across a broad array of industries and in multiple jurisdictions in merger clearances, criminal antitrust investigations and civil litigation. The firm handles merger clearances for some of the largest and most complex M&A transactions in the world. 

Capital Markets: S&C leads global rankings in both volume and value of offerings and on its ability to structure novel and effective transactions in the representation of issuers, underwriters, selling and controlling shareholders, and other market participants globally.

Corporate Governance: S&C’s corporate governance practice draws from across the firm’s preeminent practice areas for a thorough understanding of evolving corporate governance requirements and practices. 

Estates & Personal: S&C provides comprehensive and customized service to individuals, families, trustees and charitable institutions on a range of sensitive business and personal affairs. The practice includes all aspects of non-US and US transactional matters, and cross-border trusts and estates litigation.

Executive Compensation/ERISA: S&C advises on a full range of corporate, securities, tax and employment law matters. The firm’s lawyers represent many of the largest global companies on employment arrangements, corporate governance, succession matters and incentive compensation plan design, as well as senior executives in negotiations.

Financial Services: S&C remains the leading global law firm on transactional, regulatory, enforcement and other matters affecting financial institutions. The firm’s expertise extends to clients in the banking; broker-dealer; commodities; futures and derivatives; insurance; and investment management sectors. 

Intellectual Property & Technology: S&C assists clients globally with the full spectrum of intellectual property and technology issues, including in significant M&A transactions, complex patent and other IP disputes, as well as in licensing matters.

Investment Management: S&C combines a traditional investment management and an alternative investment management practice to provide expertise in transactional, structuring, trading, advisory and regulatory matters. 

Litigation: S&C’s litigators take a global, multidisciplinary approach to every aspect of litigation and regulatory matters, making it the go-to firm for cross-border litigation, a practice strengthened by S&C’s stellar reputation as a corporate, financial and transactional firm.

Mergers & Acquisitions: S&C mobilizes teams of lawyers worldwide for clients
on their largest and most important domestic and cross-border M&A transactions.
A perennial leader in M&A, S&C ranks first by value among law firms over the last 20 years, having acted in over $9 trillion in announced transactions worldwide.

Private Equity: S&C’s private equity practice draws upon the integrated resources and efforts of S&C offices around the world, taking advantage of the firm’s preeminent global capabilities to advise private equity firms, family offices, sovereign wealth funds and other investors of private capital on their most important and complex acquisitions, strategic investments and exits, across a broad range of industries.

Project Development & Finance; Infrastructure: S&C is a leader in project and infrastructure development and finance. The firm has advised on many of the most transformative and complex projects and financings in both developed and emerging markets, including advising clients in joint venture arrangements, M&A, restructurings and public-private partnerships.

Real Estate: S&C’s real estate group combines public/private market expertise and innovative deal-making skills to assist clients in purchasing, selling, developing and financing real estate companies and assets worldwide, and represents clients in restructuring real estate and other assets to facilitate generational transition and/or resolve disputes. 

Restructuring & Bankruptcy: S&C is unique in its ability to handle all elements of a corporate restructuring—whether or not an insolvency proceeding is used as a tool.

Tax: S&C’s tax group has a global reputation for innovative tax planning, the successful resolution of tax controversies and providing pivotal tax advice on corporate transactions.

Updated September 2024