Joe Mueller, the Co-Chair of WilmerHale’s firm-wide Trial Practice, is a top national trial lawyer who has played a leading role in dozens of high-stakes trials in courts across the country. Just since 2020, Mr. Mueller has first-chaired the trial teams in eight trials that each involved billion-dollar stakes, as well as two other trials that each involved multi-hundred-million-dollar stakes. He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the preeminent professional organization for North American trial lawyers, and he has repeatedly been named among the top 100 trial lawyers in the country by Benchmark Litigation.
Mr. Mueller is in the highest tier of trial lawyers for intellectual property cases. He is ranked in Band 1 by Chambers for intellectual property, and per feedback reported by IAM Patent 1000, “is in the top 1% of US patent trial lawyers of his generation.” In 2025, Benchmark Litigation named Mr. Mueller the “Intellectual Property Litigator of the Year” for the United States. In 2022 alone, he achieved the rare feat of leading four billion-dollar-stakes cases in four intellectual property disciplines—patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and licensing—through three trials and a summary judgment hearing in the fourth case, in courts from coast-to-coast.
Mr. Mueller’s trial experience extends beyond intellectual property to many other types of trials, including civil trials involving wide-ranging subjects (e.g., antitrust, contract, and fiduciary duty claims) as well as criminal trials. He has a special skillfulness in crafting trial strategies for high-stakes cases involving interdisciplinary and cross-jurisdictional (including cross-border) issues.
Among his many recognitions, Mr. Mueller has been honored as an Intellectual Property Trailblazer by The National Law Journal, named the Lawyer of the Year for Patent Litigation and Intellectual Property Litigation in Massachusetts by Best Lawyers in America, and is a three-time winner of Litigation Daily’s “Litigator of the Week.” In both 2024 and 2025, Managing IP named Mr. Mueller the “Litigator of the Year” for Massachusetts. He was also named a finalist for the 2023 New England Attorney of the Year (across all substantive disciplines). In Mr. Mueller’s position as co-chair of WilmerHale’s Trial Practice, he was featured as a litigation leader alongside co-chair Hallie Levin in Litigation Daily.
Earlier in his career Mr. Mueller served as a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Special District Attorney in the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, where he prosecuted cases involving violent crimes, financial fraud, and many other criminal offenses. While at the Middlesex DA's Office, Mr. Mueller tried thirteen criminal cases to juries and judges.
Mr. Mueller’s advocacy work extends beyond trials. He has considerable appellate experience and has argued before federal and state appeals courts including the United States Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Fourth Circuit, and Ninth Circuit. He has also worked on projects involving a wide array of federal agencies and has spearheaded the formulation and implementation of policy strategies for interactions with those agencies.
Beyond his domestic practice, Mr. Mueller has in-depth knowledge regarding strategies for international litigations and regulatory proceedings. He has experience with courts and government agencies throughout Europe and Asia.
Mr. Mueller has worked on significant pro bono matters involving disability rights, political asylum, detainee rights, public school disciplinary procedures, and healthcare. Over the years, he has received the Boston Bar Association's President's Award and the firm's John H. Pickering Award for his exemplary pro bono service.
Updated Oct 2025
