Colleagues and friends,
As we kick off the new year, we’re taking a moment to reflect on a successful 2018 filled with big victories and headline-making cases. We’re grateful to our clients who trust us to resolve some of their most significant legal and business challenges.
Best wishes for a happy and successful 2019!
Thank you,
Peter Stris & Brendan Maher
U.S. Supreme Court & Appellate Litigation
We were named for the second time in three years to the National Law Journal’s Appellate Hot List. The National Law Journal profiled our victories in two of the three business cases we litigated before the U.S. Supreme Court last year.
The firm was also named for a second year running to Chambers & Partner’s short list of the firms with the top appellate practices in the nation.
Pension, Healthcare, & Other Insurance Litigation
For the second consecutive year, Chambers & Partners ranked us as one of the 17 top ERISA firms nationwide.
We continued to litigate Frommert v. Conkright, a long running pension dispute in which we’ve recovered over $17 million in benefits, plus $4.9 million in attorney’s fees.
We resolved a multi-million healthcare benefit dispute for a multi-billion plan sponsor.
We were retained by a Fortune 200 client to litigate highly complex health insurance cases throughout the country.
Intellectual Property Litigation
Led by Elizabeth Brannen, a team of lawyers including Ken Halpern and Justin Barnes is defending patent infringement lawsuits against leading companies, including in the Eastern District of Virginia (network routing techniques), the District of Delaware (USB + multi-factor authentication), and the Northern District of Illinois (audio + video signal processing).
Last week, Peter argued Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com before the U.S. Supreme Court. This copyright case was his eighth argument before the Court. Listen to argument. Read briefs. Read argument analysis.
On behalf of booksellers sued for trademark and copyright infringement, we filed our opening brief in the Second Circuit seeking reversal of a $34.2 million jury verdict.
Throughout 2018, Elizabeth and her team continued to dispose of a wide range of baseless intellectual property lawsuits brought against Fortune firm clients.
Other Complex Commercial Litigation
On behalf of philanthropists whose $100 million donation was mishandled, we filed suit against Fidelity Charitable. In a significant initial ruling on donor standing, Fidelity’s motion to dismiss our complaint was denied in its entirety. Read Bloomberg’s coverage.
We were retained in a bitter and exceptionally complex estate dispute to protect a $52 million settlement, which the opposing party sought to void based on alleged flaws in the settlement agreement and its arbitration provision. After extensive briefing and argument, we prevailed.
We were retained by a Fortune 100 client as lead trial counsel in a real estate dispute that had been litigated for several years. Within 12 months, we reached a business resolution.
Pro Bono
We successfully represented Karen McDougal against the National Enquirer’s parent company. Reports now place President Trump at the center of the scheme. Peter recently appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss. Watch video.
We filed a U.S. Supreme Court brief on behalf of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States in support of sailors injured in the terrorist attack on the USS Cole.
We filed a Vermont Supreme Court brief on behalf of the Giffords Law Center urging rejection of a gun-lobby backed challenge to an important gun safety measure.
Our Rapidly Growing Team
We’re incredibly proud of the talent we have assembled at the firm. Our lawyers continue to distinguish themselves as some of the leading legal minds in the country. We were also thrilled to welcome four new lawyers to our team:
Radha Pathak joined the firm as a full time attorney. For many years, as a tenured law professor, Radha worked with the firm on high profile appeals including one for which she was named a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year. Radha is also an experienced litigator who handles a wide range of cases in trial courts throughout the country. She is a graduate of NYU School of Law where she was an editor of the law review.
Steven Stiglitz is a seasoned business litigator with more than 15 years’ experience, who has tried and arbitrated a number of cases through judgment or final award. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his B.A., with distinction, in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University.
Justin Barnes is a trial and appellate attorney focusing on high-stakes patent litigation. Justin has served as trial counsel at over half a dozen trials, has authored numerous briefs as well as argued before the Federal Circuit, and has been counsel on multiple cases before the Supreme Court. He received his J.D. from UCLA, and his B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College.
Josh Stein is the firm’s newest attorney. A former judicial clerk to Ninth Circuit judge Hon. Ferdinand F. Fernandez, Josh earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Yale University. He also holds a Ph.D. in history from UCLA.
We’re hiring! Stris & Maher is always on the hunt for top lawyers and legal professionals. We would be grateful for any referrals or recommendations.
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