Damon Hart, a litigation partner in Holland & Knight’s Boston office, has been named president-elect of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA) for the 2007-2008 term. He will assume the role of president of the association in April 2008. Hart has served as treasurer for the past year and has been a member since he began practicing in 1999.

“The MBLA is an organization with a rich history and I am honored to serve it,” Hart said. “In so doing, I am enjoying the unique opportunity to walk in the footsteps of my mentors and heroes in the law while continuing to increase opportunities, training and access for attorneys of color.”
Hart practices in the area of commercial litigation, with particular focus in technology, intellectual property, and labor and employment matters. In addition to his litigation work, he also provides clients with business advice with regard to employment, contract, real estate and development matters. He advises a number of churches and other religious organizations in their unique business and organizational challenges, and has gained significant experience in constitutional “separation of church and state” issues and inter-denominational disputes.

Hart has been named by his colleagues as a “Massachusetts Rising Star” in the field of Business Litigation in 2006 and 2007, and listed among Boston’s Ten Outstanding Leaders” by the Boston Jaycees for outstanding professional and community leadership. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1996 from The College of Holy Cross and earned his law degree in 1999 from Boston College Law School.

About the MBLA: With approximately 200 active members, the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association has served the African-American legal community since its inception in 1973. Through trainings, continuing legal education and mentorship programs, the MBLA reaches out to 500 legal professionals and provides opportunity for career development and advancement.

About Holland & Knight LLP: Holland & Knight is a global law firm with more than 1,150 lawyers in 17 U.S. offices. Other offices around the world are located in Beijing, Tokyo and Mexico City, with representative offices in Caracas, Helsinki and Tel Aviv. Holland & Knight is among the world’s 15 largest firms, providing representation in litigation, business, real estate and governmental law. Our interdisciplinary practice groups and industry-based teams ensure clients have access to attorneys throughout the firm, regardless of location. www.hklaw.com

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James Pooley and L. Scott Oliver bring two IP partners and four associates to Palo Alto office after practicing as an independent firm for past year; group brings successful trial record in complex patent technology and trade secret cases.

PALO ALTO, CA, May 3, 2007 – LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – Morrison & Foerster LLP announced that leading Silicon Valley intellectual property attorneys James Pooley and L. Scott Oliver have joined the firm.

Mr. Pooley and Mr. Oliver join Morrison & Foerster’s Palo Alto office as partners, bringing with them two partners and four associates from Pooley & Oliver LLP, where they worked following their departure from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in January 2006.

“This is an A-list intellectual property practice, with outstanding trial experience that meshes very well with our IP platform,” said Keith Wetmore, Chair of Morrison & Foerster.

Harold McElhinny, co-chair of the firm’s intellectual property practice, added, “We’ve wanted to practice together for some time, and we could not be happier to have them on board. They are a team of outstanding lawyers who share our values and understand what it means to deliver world-class legal services.”

Mr. Pooley is widely regarded as one of the leading trial lawyers in the U.S., with successes in patent, trade secret, copyright, and technology-related disputes in state and federal courts and before the International Trade Commission. He is currently president of the Inventors Hall of Fame and later this fall begins a one-year term as president of the American Intellectual Property Lawyers Association, a membership group of 17,000 IP lawyers in private and corporate practice, as well as in government and academia.

Mr. Pooley has practiced in Silicon Valley since 1973, establishing a national reputation in high-profile cases involving intellectual property. His successful defense of Adobe Systems was chosen by the National Law Journal as the only IP case among its Top Defense Verdicts of 1997. A record settlement for ESS Technology in a software copyright case led to his being honored as a 2003 Lawyer of the Year by California Lawyer Magazine. Other clients he has represented in large-claim IP cases include AT&T Wireless Services, United Microelectronics Corp., Magma Design Automation and Hewlett-Packard Corp.

Mr. Pooley is also known for his work in trade secret matters. He authored a definitive 720-page treatise on the subject, Trade Secrets, published in 2001 by Law Journal Seminars Press, and has written extensively on trade theft issues for more than 25 years, including an earlier work entitled The Executive’s Guide to Protecting Propriety, Business Information and Trade Secrets (Probus Publishing, 1987).

“We are extremely pleased to be a part of one of the world’s elite, cross-discipline intellectual property practices,” said Jim Pooley. “We have the ability to access a full suite of top-notch IP and corporate legal services our clients demand.”

In addition to Mr. Pooley, joining Morrison & Foerster as partners are L. Scott Oliver, Kimberly Van Voorhis, and Marc Peters.

Mr. Oliver handles patent, copyright, and complex technology cases. He has practiced with Mr. Pooley for the last seven years. Mr. Oliver’s litigation work has spanned a wide range of technologies, including digital content distribution (he was involved in both the Napster and MP3.com cases), telecommunications switching, video-on-demand systems, host software processing modems, hard disc drive motor technology, video gaming software, optical networking, flash memory products, and software for rendering computer and printer typefaces. Mr. Oliver received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of San Diego, and his A.B., cum laude, from Harvard University.

Ms. Van Voorhis’ practice focuses primarily on the trial of patent, trademark, copyright, and complex technology-related cases in state and federal courts, as well as before the International Trade Commission and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Ms. Van Voorhis received her J.D. from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, and her B.S. from the University of California, Irvine.

Dr. Peters concentrates his practice on litigation involving a wide variety of information technologies including optoelectronic transceivers, synchronization software, notebook computers, modems, and semiconductors. Dr. Peters holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and is the co-author of more than 100 papers in the area of particle physics. Dr. Peters received his J.D., with distinction, from Stanford University, and his A.B. in physics, magna cum laude, from Harvard University.

Mr. Pooley graduated from Columbia School of Law as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and received his B.A., with honors, from Lafayette College.

The associates joining Morrison & Foerster from Pooley & Oliver are David Alban, Diana Luo, Katherine Nolan-Stevaux, and Dara Tabesh.