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San Diego Attorney Juanita Brooks Named American Lawyer "Litigator of the Year"

Fish & Richardson IP litigator Juanita Brooks was recently named “Litigator of the Year” by The American Lawyer – the leading source of news for the legal industry.  Brooks was singled out as “Litigator of the Year” for being “a titan of the patent bar” who “has been lead counsel in more than 13 patent trials” over the past two years.  Brooks’ “Patently Tough” profile (click http://bit.ly/K3pVmj to view) was published on January 3, 2014.

According to American Lawyer, Brooks was selected for her impressive wins including victories for Fresenius USA “knocking out the remnants of a $150 million infringement verdict won” and fending off “generic challenges to Lumigan®, Allergan Inc.’s $300 million per year glaucoma drug.”  American Lawyer noted that the Federal Circuit panel in the Allergan case wrote that Brooks “eviscerated an opposing expert witness’s credibility on cross-examination.”

In total, Brooks won five cases (three trials and two Federal Circuit affirmances) – worth billions of dollars – for Allergan that protected markets for their Lumigan®, Combigan®, and Latisse® drugs.  She had two big patent wins for Cephalon involving its cancer drug Fentora®, protecting over $1 billion in both cases.  Brooks also scored a major jury verdict for Apple against Multimedia Patent Trust, which had claimed patent infringement against Apple's iPod, iPad, iPhone, and MacBook and asked for $172.3 million.

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Brooks, who is based in Fish & Richardson’s Southern California office in San Diego, has a nationally recognized trial practice, specializing in complex intellectual property litigation. She has handled more than 150 trials in her career and her average yearly caseload includes over 20 active patent cases. Her litigation experience includes numerous cases involving intellectual property, product liability and qui tam litigation.

“Juanita has a hard earned reputation as one of the best IP trial attorneys in the country.  She is a master storyteller who connects with jurors and is able to make the most complex technology simple,” said Ann Cathcart Chaplin, Practice Group Leader of Fish’s Litigation Group.  “She is truly deserving of being honored as Litigator of the Year.”

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