District of Columbia

Firm overview

Founded in 1978 and based in Washington, DC, Sterne Kessler is a premier law firm dedicated to intellectual property, focusing on the full range of IP services globally, including litigation, patent and trademark prosecution, design patents, IP strategy, post-grant proceedings, opinions, and transactional support.

The firm works with some of the most innovative clients in the world, including Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, start-ups, inventors, venture capital firms, and universities. Whether prosecuting a patent or trademark, managing a worldwide portfolio, or litigating a bet-the-company case at trial, Sterne Kessler is committed to delivering practical solutions and excellent client service.

Sterne Kessler delivers innovative solutions that are tailored to its clients’ businesses. With deep technical knowledge and IP experience, the firm develops targeted and effective strategies to protect and enforce valuable IP assets. The team includes more than 200 lawyers, patent agents, and technical specialists who hold over 100 advanced degrees, including 60+ Ph.D.s, in science and engineering disciplines. The firm supports clients across a broad range of industries and technologies, including biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, electronics, artificial intelligence, software, innovative materials, consumer products, food & beverage, medical devices, automotive and heavy equipment, manufacturing, and industrial products, amongst many others.

In the last five years, Sterne Kessler has served as litigation counsel in 200+ patent cases across more than two dozen federal district courts. The firm is one of the top five most active firms for patent cases at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and among the top 10% of most active firms at the U.S. International Trade Commission. The firm is particularly skilled at coordinating across multiple venues, representing clients in patent litigation in district court, before the ITC, and at the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), pivoting between venues to efficiently and favorably resolve disputes.

The PTAB Trials team has been a leader since the inception of the PTAB and continues to be a dominant force in the industry today. Sterne Kessler has been counsel in more than 1,300 proceedings and counting, and its results are among the very best. Patexia consistently ranks the firm among the top 10 most active overall and the top 25 best performing firm overall in its PTAB Intelligence Report.
FIRM ACCOLADES:
• Band 1, Patent Prosecution, Washington, D.C., Chambers USA (2025)
• Tier 1, Patent Prosecution, PTAB Litigation, and Life Sciences IP, and Tier 3 ITC Litigation, National, Managing IP’s IP Stars (2025)
• “Highly Recommended” Patent Prosecution and Patent Disputes and “Recommended” Trademark Prosecution, District of Columbia, Managing IP’s IP Stars (2025)
• Tier 1, IP Litigation, Patent Litigation, Patent Law, and Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice (D.C.), U.S. News – Best Lawyers – “Best Law Firms” (2025)
• Highly Recommended, Patent Prosecution and Transactions, IAM Patent 1000 (2025)
• Recognized for Trademark Prosecution & Strategy and Enforcement & Litigation, DC Metro Area, World Trademark 1000 (2025)
• 12 Years in a Row - Top Workplaces Recognition, The Washington Post (2025)

Firm overview

We’re proud to work with some of the world’s most dynamic organizations and the leaders who drive them. We know that on any given day you’re tackling competition, corporate development, asset protection, talent management—some days all of the above. While there’s a bevy of smart folks out there to help you address them on a case-by-case basis, there are few who have the breadth and depth of focused knowledge to help you attend to them all and stay ahead of what’s next.

That’s McDermott.

When you hire us, you don’t just get the experience of an individual. You get a purpose-built, tightly woven network of legal thought leaders who marry their passion for business with a deep, focused understanding of the law.

And your team isn’t just the lawyers working on your business day one. It’s also their colleagues around the world who guide and advise around the edges—the ones who add diverse, nuanced perspectives to elevate strategy and surface highly effective—but often unexpected—solutions when a “simple” transaction becomes a bet-the-company deal or a basic arbitration turns into multi-year litigation.

We don’t just promote this approach—we thrive on it. We know that it’s our ability to tap into the particular knowledge of our individual lawyers and then to harness their collective experience that makes us uniquely qualified to help our clients move faster and propel their success.

You can see it the results we deliver and you’ll feel it when you meet with us to talk about your needs. You’ll know that we’re more than “just” lawyers. We’re scientists, accountants, analysts, policy makers, money managers and family members who love the law. We bring all of those experiences to bear for your business and the people you serve.

Most importantly, we’re committed to helping you make real progress against your goals—to turning those big ideas into actionable plans—and to making it as easy and enjoyable as possible.

Firm overview

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is a premier firm of more than 1,000 lawyers with diverse backgrounds, personalities, ideas and interests who provide innovative and effective solutions to our clients’ most complex legal and business challenges. With 11 offices across North America, Europe and Asia, and a robust international network, the firm represents many of the world’s largest and most important asset managers, public and private corporations, and financial institutions, as well as clients in need of pro bono assistance. We consistently earn high praise for our collaborative, commercial approach, providing novel and efficient solutions to otherwise intractable situations.

The firm is widely recognized as having market-leading practices in private equity, public company M&A, litigation, white collar and regulatory defense, and restructuring. Within these broad practices, we also offer numerous elite specialized practices, including finance, capital markets, investment funds, antitrust, tax and executive compensation, among others.

Litigation:

No other law firm can approach Paul, Weiss’s experience and record of success in the most complex, high-stakes litigation in U.S. federal and state courts. Our renowned trial team is a particularly powerful advantage, both in the courtroom and at the settlement table.

With a deep bench that includes many of the country’s most accomplished trial lawyers and former senior government officials, our Litigation Department is uniquely positioned to handle multifaceted crises, from sprawling cross-border, multi-regulator enforcement actions to parallel private litigation. We are regularly entrusted with fast-moving, franchise-threatening matters because of our ability to develop and execute a winning strategy, no matter the problem or adversary, and to see the matter through to the ultimate resolution, whether at trial or before the Supreme Court.

The Litigation Department includes dozens of former federal prosecutors and senior U.S. government officials, including a former U.S. Attorney General; former U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern District of New York and the Northern District of California; a former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; former senior leaders in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division; numerous senior counsel from the SEC, the CFPB, the FTC and other key U.S. regulatory agencies; and former senior members of the White House Counsel’s office.

White Collar & Regulatory Defense:

Clients facing white collar and regulatory enforcement challenges look to Paul, Weiss to protect their businesses and reputations and manage the behind-the-scenes interplay among competing regulatory and enforcement agencies. We have experience handling a vast range of regulatory and enforcement inquiries and internal investigations, including involving multiple jurisdictions. Our lawyers are adept at conducting internal investigations on behalf of companies, boards, audit committees and special litigation committees. Within the litigation and white collar and regulatory defense practices, we are widely recognized for our expertise in many specialized areas, including:

• Antitrust
• Anti-Corruption & Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• Anti-Money Laundering
• Artificial Intelligence
• Bankruptcy Litigation
• Congressional Investigations
• Crisis Management
• Cryptocurrency & Blockchain
• Cybersecurity & Data Protection
• DEI Strategic Advisory
• Digital Technology
• E-Discovery
• Employment, Workplace Investigations & Trade Secrets
• ERISA, Pension & Benefits Litigation
• False Claims Act & Qui Tam Litigation
• Financial Services Litigation & Investigations
• Insurance Litigation
• Intellectual Property Litigation
• Internal Investigations
• International Arbitration
• Investigations
• Investment Management Litigation
• Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation
• National Security, CFIUS & FARA
• Product Liability & Mass Torts
• Civil Rights & Racial Equity Audits
• Sanctions
• Securities Litigation
• Supreme Court & Appellate Litigation
• Sustainability & ESG Advisory

Firm overview

With more than 130 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York, and Washington, D.C., McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America’s leading trial firms. The Firm has secured 18 nine-figure jury verdicts and 16 eight-figure jury verdicts, obtaining more VerdictSearch and The National Law Journal “Top 100 Verdicts” than any other law firm. McKool Smith represents clients in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, insurance recovery, and white-collar defense matters.

Commercial litigation: McKool Smith specializes in complex commercial litigation. The firm litigates and regularly tries complex cases across a broad range of practice areas including antitrust, bankruptcy, entertainment, class action, contract, corporate governance, energy, fiduciary duty, insurance recovery, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, securities, and qui tam/whistleblower, among others. The firm’s attorneys also routinely appear in leading arbitral forums (e.g., JAMS and AAA) and appellate courts nationwide, including the US Supreme Court.

Intellectual property litigation: McKool Smith’s courtroom track record in intellectual property (IP) cases is unrivaled. Over the past 20 years, this distinguished trial team has won more patent litigation damages than any other firm (3 billion+). The firm represents both plaintiffs and defendants in all aspects of IP litigation including patent litigation; ITC/Section 337 disputes and investigations; copyright, trademark, and false advertising litigation; and trade secret disputes. The firm’s attorneys also represent clients before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The IP practice has been recognized as the US “Plaintiff IP Firm of the Year” by Managing IP, “Intellectual Property Firm of the Year” by Benchmark Litigation, and “IP Group of the Year” by Law360, among other honors.

Insurance recovery: McKool Smith’s litigators have more than 30 years of experience effectively leading clients through high-stakes coverage and liability disputes against their insurance providers. Collectively, the firm’s lawyers have obtained more than $5 billion in insurance-related recoveries for clients across a broad range of industries including manufacturing, chemical, entertainment, pharmaceutical, financial, education, and healthcare, among others.

White-collar defense: The firm’s white-collar defense practice is led by former federal prosecutors with experience in virtually every type of government investigation and prosecution. They defend alleged art, bank and securities fraud; insider trading; and antitrust, environmental, FCPA, OFAC, and tax violations, among other matters. The firm’s attorneys have also been appointed to monitorships and guided corporations, boards, and committees through internal investigations.

Bankruptcy: The firm’s bankruptcy practice focuses on complex disputes arising under bankruptcy and related state and federal laws, representing trustees, debtors, creditors’ committees, and other parties. The firm also handles complex reorganization proceedings and out-of-court restructurings.

Other Offices: Austin · Houston · Los Angeles · Marshall · New York · Washington, D.C