IN t he Northern NEWSCalifornia
Heidi Keefe (intellectual property ► Cooley: law, 2014) is part of a team representing
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Facebook in a patent dispute over image sharing technology.
Covington & Burling: Simon J. Frankel (intellectual property law, 2012) and Emily Johnson Henn (commercial litigation, 2016) were part of a team that won a dismissal of a class action against streaming online video company Hulu. The defense showed that Hulu was unaware that Facebook could access data that Hulu acquired about viewers’ viewing habits by linking their accounts on the two sites.
Piper: Lynn Cadwalader (real estate ► DLA law, 2015) joined the firm as partner from
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Holland & Knight.
The Dolan Law Firm: Christopher B. Dolan (personal injury litigation; product liability litigation, 2014) continues to contribute a weekly advice column to The San Francisco Examiner, fielding questions from readers on legal issues. Fenwick & West: Doug Cogen (mergers and acquisitions law, 2008) and Mark Ostrau (antitrust law, 2009) were part of a team that represented the tech company Cisco in its sale of the customer premises equipment part of its telecom business to Technicolor for $600 million in cash and stock. Girard Gibbs: The firm is representing ancestral landowners in Guam in a class action seeking compensation for land that had been used by the U.S. military during World War II and that was returned to the government of Guam, but not the original owners of the land or their descendants. Girard Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho: Laura L. Ho (labor and employment law, 2012) was part of a team that represented 19,000 temp workers, winning a settlement from a temp agency that had not LAURA L. HO provided accurate pay stubs to the workers. The temp agency agreed to pay $8.7 million under the settlement terms. Greenberg Traurig: Françoise Gilbert (information technology law; privacy and data security law, 2008) joined the firm’s Silicon Valley office as partner from the IT Law Group. Gwilliam, Ivary, Chiosso, Cavalli & Brewer: J. Gary Gwilliam (personal injury litigation, 1993) represented a Contra Costa County prosecutor who is now returning to his job after rape charges against him were dismissed and the arbitrator in his case found that he was wrongfully removed from his post for political reasons. Hinshaw & Culbertson: Forrest Booth (admiralty and maritime law, 2006) joined the firm as partner from Severson & Werson. Hogan Lovells US: Michael J. Shepard (criminal defense: white-collar, 2007) was part of a team that helped win a dismissal of a class action suit against the international soccer association FIFA for allegedly failing to protect players from game-related concussions.
| NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Benson Torres & Friedman: ► Kasowitz Jonathan K. Waldrop (intellectual property
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law, 2015) was part of a team that won $200 million in owed royalty payments to their client against a medical device maker that had infringed on his patent.
McClain, Satterley & Greenwood: ► Kazan, Steven Kazan (mass tort litigation / class
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actions, 2006) and David M. McClain (mass tort litigation / class actions, 2006) are part of a team representing non-fiction writer and novelist Paul Brodeur, who claims he was defamed in the film American Hustle when a character in the movie misattributes to him the false claim that microwave ovens take the nutrients out of food.
Keker & Van Nest: Ashok Ramani (intellectual property, 2013) led a team that successfully defended streaming online video site Netflix in a suit brought by another company that had ASHOK RAMANI alleged that Netflix stole their ideas. The judge in the case ruled that the company’s ideas were abstract and broad and thus not protected by patent laws.
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Offices of Hanlon & Rief: Stuart ► Law Hanlon (criminal defense: white collar;
criminal defense: non-white-collar, 2013) successfully defended a bus driver who was accused of vehicular manslaughter. The driver was cleared of charges after Hanlon argued that the transit agency was responsible for not constructing the buses in its fleet to provide drivers adequate visibility.
Cabrasar Heimann & Bernstein: ► Lieff Kelly M. Dermody (labor and employment
law, 2010) was elected to the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, a legal professional organization. Lexi Hazam (antitrust law; qui tam law, 2015) and Robert J. Nelson (personal injury litigation; product liability litigation, 2012) were part of a team that represented a whistleblower and the State of California in a civil case against an office supply company that had broken its contracts with numerous state agencies and overcharged for office supplies. The whistleblower passed away in March and his estate and over 1,000 California public agencies are sharing a $68.5 million settlement.
Starr Regalia: Arthur F. Coon (land ► Miller use and zoning law, 2012) contributed
an opinion article to The San Francisco Chronicle, “Ruling on Mitch Kapor’s Berkeley mansion trims CEQA reach,” on the City of Berkeley’s approval of the construction of a large mansion and a subsequent court decision in favor of the city’s decision that Coon argues has cut the reach of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
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Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe: Lynne C. Hermle (labor and employment law, 2006) led a team that won a major victory on behalf of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers, clearing them of charges LYNNE C. HERMLE of gender discrimination brought by interim Reddit CEO and junior partner Ellen Pao.
Rains Lucia Stern: Eustace de Saint Phalle (personal injury litigation, 2016) is part of a team representing the family of a woman who died along with five others when a balcony of a Berkeley apartment complex collapsed. Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld: Sanford J. Rosen (appellate practice, 2013) contributed two articles to The Huffington Post, “’The Whole World Is Watching’: How Ubiquitous Video Might Curb Use of Excessive Force” and “American Universities are Not Fortune 500 Companies But Increasingly Model Them.” Rossmann and Moore: Antonio Rossmann is representing the City of Berkeley and the National Trust for Historic Preservation in a case trying to stop the United States Postal Service from relocating ANTONIO ROSSMANN the Berkeley Post Office from its current building, which was constructed in 1915 and is considered by some to be a historic landmark. Rudy, Exelrod, Zieff & Lowe: David A. Lowe (labor and employment law, 2013) was part of a team that represented a former coach at a Catholic high school in Vallejo, winning $900,000 on his behalf from the Diocese of Sacramento for wrongful firing, retaliation, and defamation of character. Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger: Ellison Folk is representing the Rodeo Citizens’ Association (RCA) in a suit against Contra Costa County trying to stop the expansion of an oil refinery, alleging that the environmental costs of and hazards related to the expansion were not fully accounted for in the county’s decision to approve the expansion. Sidley Austin: Michael J. Bettinger (intellectual property law, 2016) joined the firm from K&L Gates. Wood: Robert W. Wood (tax law, 2006) continues to contribute regular articles on tax-related issues to Forbes.
& Foerster: Michael Jacob Steel ► Morrison (environmental law, 2007) represented clients from a list of more than 100 major cosmetics companies selling products containing chemicals that, although not banned by California’s Proposition 65, allegedly caused exposure to banned chemicals. Steel successfully got the case thrown out of court seven months before the trial was set to begin by proving that the plaintiff’s claims were not scientifically verified and that the plaintiff had never tested any of the products that were supposed to contain the alleged exposure-causing chemicals.
Compiled By Nathaniel Barr NOTE Lawyers listed in Best Lawyers are indicated by their selected practice area(s) in parentheses along with the first year they were included in the Best Lawyers list. To be included in next year’s In the News feature, please email us your news at: news@bestlawyers.com.