Heller Ehrman - Appeals & Strategy

Appeals & Strategy Practice

Heller Ehrman offers its clients the range of experience and breadth of expertise necessary to any successful appeal. Our attorneys have briefed and argued hundreds of appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court, all federal Courts of Appeals, and numerous state supreme courts and intermediate courts. Our appeals run the gamut from patents to antitrust to insurance coverage to administrative law to securities to constitutional law—and beyond.

The attorneys in the Appeals and Strategy Group reflect this range of experience and substantive expertise. They include former Supreme Court and Court of Appeals clerks, former federal prosecutors, the founding president of the Brennan Center for Justice, and fellows of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Among our notable recent appeals are cases we litigated in the U.S. Supreme Court. In just the past three years, we have represented parties in: a patent case that the National Law Journal described as “the most significant patent infringement case to confront the biotech and pharmaceutical industries in a generation”; an age discrimination case about the legality of the retirement plans of dozens of states; an antitrust case on predatory pricing; a high-profile First Amendment case representing 36 law schools against the Department of Defense; a landmark defense of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law; and a closely watched assisted-suicide case. We have also filed dozens of cert. oppositions, Supreme Court amicus briefs, and cert. petitions, most recently on topics as varied as antitrust, patent law, securities, school desegregation, and criminal law.

Some of our most important cases, however, have been in the federal appellate courts and the various state appellate courts. These have included cases that have been critically important to business interests, as well as cases with significant impacts on public policy.

Because of our breadth of experience—and our proven results—clients frequently turn to us for the first time on appeal, whether to overturn a terrible loss in a lower court or administrative agency or to defend an important victory. They give us high marks not just for the quality of our work, but for our ability to work well with the trial lawyers who have invested a lot of time and sweat equity in the case.

Our focus is not just on appeals, but also on Strategy. Clients turn to us to address some of their most difficult business problems—problems that cannot be addressed through litigation alone. We have extensive experience devising integrated strategies that draw upon all the tools of law reform, from legislative activity to administrative action to public advocacy to coalition building.

Engagements

Merck KGaA: Prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court when a unanimous opinion vindicated the right under the patent statute to conduct pre-clinical cancer research, undertaken to provide data for FDA approval of clinical trials of new drugs, without fear of patent infringement.
Visa U.S.A. Inc.: Convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to affirm a settlement with a nationwide class of four million retailers with claims of over $100 billion.
Powerine Oil: Earned a victory for insurance policyholders in the California Supreme Court's 2005 "Powerine II" decision, which held that the standard excess policies at issue provide coverage for environmental clean-up costs ordered by the government.
Republic of the Philippines: Persuaded the Ninth Circuit to dismiss the Republic of Philippines from an interpleader action brought by Merrill Lynch in connection with litigation involving assets secreted from the federal government by Ferdinand Marcos while he was President of the Philippines.
Genentech: Convinced the Federal Circuit to overturn a summary judgment ruling against our client in a patent infringement litigation against Amgen.
Public Policy Engagements: Successfully challenged the Solomon Amendment in the Third Circuit; defended the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law in the U.S. Supreme Court, and thereafter convinced the D.C. Circuit to strike down many Federal Election Commission regulations that failed to implement the reform legislation as Congress had intended; on behalf of amici curiae, filed the only brief that offered the Supreme Court the grounds on which its 8-1 decision in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York Oneida rests.

Contacts

E. Joshua Rosenkranz
joshua.rosenkranz
@hellerehrman.com
+1 (212) 847-8748

Leonard Feldman
leonard.feldman@hellerehrman.com
+1 (206) 389-6124

Attorneys

Alexander M.R. Lyon alexander.lyon@hellerehrman.com	Silicon Valley +1 (650) 324-7080
Brent N. Rushforth brent.rushforth@hellerehrman.com	Washington, D.C. +1 (202) 912-2500
Charles G. Curtis, Jr. charles.curtis@hellerehrman.com	Madison, WI +1 (608) 663-7480
Danielle Goldstein danielle.goldstein@hellerehrman.com	San Francisco +1 (415) 772-6610
David E. Jones david.jones@hellerehrman.com	Madison, WI +1 (608) 663-7478
David A. Thomas david.thomas@hellerehrman.com	San Francisco +1 (415) 772-6968
David J. Harth david.harth@hellerehrman.com	Madison, WI +1 (608) 663-7470 Washington, D.C. +1 (202) 912-2193
E. Joshua Rosenkranz joshua.rosenkranz@hellerehrman.com	New York +1 (212) 847-8748
Eric Shapland eric.shapland@hellerehrman.com	Los Angeles +1 (213) 689-7648
Eric Redman eric.redman@hellerehrman.com	Seattle +1 (206) 389-6000
Gabrielle E. Bina gabrielle.bina@hellerehrman.com	Madison, WI +1 (608) 663-7484
Geoffrey F. Aronow geoffrey.aronow@hellerehrman.com	Washington, D.C. +1 (202) 912-2110 New York +1 (212) 847-8792
John S. Skilton john.skilton@hellerehrman.com	Washington, D.C. +1 (202) 912-2121 Madison, WI +1 (608) 663-7474
Joseph H. Fagan joseph.fagan@hellerehrman.com	Washington, D.C. +1 (202) 912-2162
Kenneth E. Payson ken.payson@hellerehrman.com	Seattle +1 (206) 389-4222
Leonard Feldman leonard.feldman@hellerehrman.com	Seattle +1 (206) 389-6124
M. Laurence Popofsky larry.popofsky@hellerehrman.com	San Francisco +1 (415) 772-6310
Malaika M. Eaton malaika.eaton@hellerehrman.com	Seattle +1 (206) 389-4315
Marie L. Fiala marie.fiala@hellerehrman.com	San Francisco +1 (415) 772-6527
Rachel M. Jones rachel.jones@hellerehrman.com	San Francisco +1 (415) 772-6254
Randy J. Kozel randy.kozel@hellerehrman.com	Madison, WI +1 (608) 663-7486
Rene L. Siemens rene.siemens@hellerehrman.com	Los Angeles +1 (213) 689-7583
Robert A. Rosenfeld bob.rosenfeld@hellerehrman.com	San Francisco +1 (415) 772-6609
Stephen V. Bomse steve.bomse@hellerehrman.com	San Francisco +1 (415) 772-6142