Fish & Richardson Has Five Attorneys Named 2014 “Lawyers of the Year” by Best Lawyers in America®

Fish & Richardson announced today that five firm principals – Juanita Brooks* Ann Cathcart Chaplin, Ruffin Cordell, Thomas Melsheimer, and Dorothy Whelan – have been named a 2014 “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in America®. This designation is given to a single lawyer in each practice and metropolitan area, reflecting the high level of respect a lawyer has earned for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.

Juanita Brooks was named IP Litigation “Lawyer of the Year” in San Diego. She has a nationwide trial practice specializing in complex IP litigation, product liability, and qui tam litigation. She has handled more than 150 trials in her career.  

Ann Cathcart Chaplin was named Patent Litigation “Lawyer of the Year” in Minneapolis. She is firm-wide Litigation Practice Group Leader and Managing Principal of the Twin Cities office. Her practice emphasizes patent, trade secret, and trademark litigation and enforcement across many technologies.

Ruffin Cordell was named Patent Litigation “Lawyer of the Year” in Washington, D.C. He focuses on all aspects of IP litigation across many industries and regularly serves as lead counsel before the International Trade Commission and in federal district courts.

Thomas Melsheimer was named IP Litigation “Lawyer of the Year” in Dallas. He is the Managing Principal of the Dallas office and head of its trial practice. His practice emphasizes intellectual property, business torts, and False Claims Act litigation. 

Dorothy Whelan was named Patent Law “Lawyer of the Year” in Minneapolis.  She focuses her practice on post-grant proceedings, client counseling, strategic patent portfolio design and management, due diligence investigations, and freedom-to-operate studies. 

Fish & Richardson is a global law firm providing strategic counseling and litigation services to innovative clients who seek to protect and maximize the value of their intellectual property (IP). Founded in 1878, Fish’s early clients included Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers. The firm has more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists practicing IP strategy and counseling, IP litigation, and commercial litigation. Fish has been named the top patent litigation firm in the country for nine consecutive years and the number one IP firm for America’s biggest companies. Visit www.fr.com or follow @fishrichardson on Twitter.

*Juanita Brooks resides in La Jolla.