High-Profile Trio Includes Kevin Culligan, Ed Bailey and John Hanish
(NEW YORK) June 4, 2007 – LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – Three intellectual property litigators – Kevin J. Culligan, W. Edward Bailey and John P. Hanish – have joined Heller Ehrman’s New York office as shareholders. The well-respected team of lawyers handles a variety of high-profile patent litigation matters, with an emphasis on the medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and banking sectors. The three lawyers were previously partners in King & Spalding’s New York office. Prior to joining King & Spalding, they practiced at Fish & Neave.
“The addition of this highly regarded team in New York represents a significant step in our plans for strategic, broad-based growth in this market,” said Joseph T. McLaughlin, chairman of Heller Ehrman’s New York office. “We are looking to expand several of our core practice areas in New York and we hope to have more than 20 IP litigators in the near term.”
Since the beginning of 2006, Heller Ehrman has added 13 shareholders to its New York office. Since opening in 1999, the firm’s New York office has grown from 19 to 126 lawyers. Heller Ehrman’s New York office represents clients that include financial institutions, professional service firms and Fortune 500 companies, including Allen & Company, LLC, Bank of America, Bayer, Citibank, Credit Suisse Securities, Deloitte & Touche LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp., Goldman Sachs, Jeffries & Co., JP Morgan Chase, KPMG, Philip Morris USA, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Washington Mutual.
“This is an outstanding team that was trained at, and then led Fish & Neave, one of the most respected IP boutiques in the country. Each brings to our group a strong but diverse industry and technical expertise, as well as decades of superb courtroom experience. Like the rest of our group, these attorneys excel at trial work and are trusted advisors to their clients,” said Patricia Thayer, co-chair of Heller Ehrman’s IP Litigation group. “We are thrilled about Kevin, Ed and John’s becoming a part of the firm. We know our clients and colleagues will benefit from their specific backgrounds and skills.”
Heller Ehrman’s Intellectual Property group has more than 80 IP litigators and has a streak of seven straight wins in patent trials over the past three years, plus a unanimous decision in the U.S. Supreme Court. The firm’s IP clients include industry leaders such as Apple, Computer Associates, Genentech, Allergan, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Palm, QUALCOMM, Symantec, Texas Instruments, and Yahoo! The firm’s IP litigation practice was recognized by The American Lawyer as one of the top five practices in the country. The group includes five members of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and four members recognized by Chambers USA for their IP and complex litigation capabilities.
“The addition of this group of IP litigators to Heller Ehrman, coupled with our team of IP lawyers in Washington, D.C. that focuses on ITC matters, gives our IP practice very strong visibility and coverage on the East Coast,” said Michael Plimack, co-chair of Heller Ehrman’s IP Litigation Group.
“The key things that drew us to Heller Ehrman were the firm’s established and diverse practices that focus on technology and life sciences, and the caliber of talent throughout the firm,” said Culligan. “Another important quality was the firm’s culture, which is characterized by teamwork and shared relationships with clients.”
Brief Shareholder Biographies
Kevin J. Culligan focuses on the litigation and trial of intellectual property matters – primarily patent infringement cases. Over the past three decades, he has represented a number of large international companies in patent infringement actions involving diverse technologies, ranging from medical devices and inventions in immunology to photographic chemistries and consumer products. He also has represented a number of companies in connection with the enforcement of patents directed to financial instruments, financial services, insurance products and various kinds of business method patents. He was a member of the Polaroid trial team that recovered almost $1 billion from Kodak, one of the highest amounts ever awarded for patent infringement. Culligan also served as lead trial counsel for College Savings Bank in a high-profile patent infringement case that he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Culligan was a partner at Fish & Neave, where he served as acting managing partner in 2002 and 2003, and was on the management committee from 2000 to 2004. Culligan earned an A.B. from Colgate University in 1976 and a J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1980.
Ed Bailey has spent more than 30 years practicing all aspects of intellectual property litigation involving a wide range of technologies. His primary focus is patent infringement litigation, but he has represented clients in trademark, trade dress, copyright and trade secret cases. He also has been lead counsel in many interferences in the Patent and Trademark Office. Bailey was a partner at Fish & Neave, where he served as managing partner from 1994 to 2000. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from Auburn University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia. He also did graduate work in biochemistry at Vanderbilt University and served in the United States Marine Corps.
John P. Hanish handles all aspects of intellectual property litigation and counseling, with an emphasis on patent litigation. He has represented clients at patent trials regarding pharmaceuticals and consumer products. His experience includes serving as trial counsel for Symbol Technologies Inc. and Cognex Corp., which defeated the Lemelson “submarine” patent licensing program in a complete victory for the bar code and machine vision industries. Prior to attending law school, Hanish was a postdoctoral fellow and scientist at Rockefeller University and Sloan-Kettering Institute. He earned a B.S. in chemistry and history from North Dakota State University in 1986, and a Ph.D. in 1990 in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Chicago. He received a J.D. in 1998 from New York University School of Law.
About Heller Ehrman LLP
Heller Ehrman LLP has more than 700 attorneys and professionals in 13 offices worldwide – Anchorage, Alaska; Beijing; Hong Kong; London; Los Angeles; Madison, Wis.; New York; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Silicon Valley; Singapore; and Washington, D.C. Heller Ehrman represents a wide range of industry leaders, from entrepreneurial, technology-driven enterprises to established, multinational conglomerates. The firm’s core values are Excellence, People, Teamwork, Innovation, Community and One Firm. For more information, visit www.hellerehrman.com.
