Earlier this year we contacted more than 300 law firms, asking for a list of patent cases filed during calendar year 2007 in which they represented clients in federal district courts and in appeals at the Federal Circuit. The district court cases had to be active for at least two months during the year. Some firms listed multiple district court cases with the same plaintiff. If those cases involved the same patent, highly similar technology, or consolidated discovery, we counted all the cases as one.

Who Handles the Most Appeals? Rank 2008 Firm Total Appeals 1 Howrey 19 2 Fish & Richardson 16 3 Finnegan, Henderson 14 4 McDermott Will 11 5 Sidley Austin 10 6 Paul Hastings 9 7 Robins, Kaplan 7 7 Wilmer 7 9 Baker Botts 6 9 Dechert 6 9 Goodwin Procter 6 9 Kirkland & Ellis 6 9 Knobbe Martens 6 9 McAndrews Held 6 Who Are the District Court Champs? Rank 2008 Rank 2007 Firm Total District Court Cases 1 1 Fish & Richardson 98 2 11 Morrison & Foerster 69 3 3 Kirkland & Ellis 63 4 5 Howrey 62 5 2 Jones Day 55 6 7 Niro, Scavone 54 7 27 Winston & Strawn 52 8 N/A Knobbe Martens 46 9 4 Foley & Lardner 45 9 13 Kenyon & Kenyon 45 11 18 Finnegan, Henderson 44 11 9 McDermott Will 44 13 11 Baker Botts 42 14 N/A Morgan Lewis 41 15 15 Heller Ehrman 40 15 18 Sidley Austin 40 17 24 Alston & Bird 39 18 18 Kilpatrick Stockton 36 19 N/A Townsend and Townsend 35 20 N/A Akin Gump 34 20 9 Cooley Godward 34 22 27 Fulbright Jaworski 33 22 22 Michael Best 33 22 N/A Quinn Emanuel 33 25 N/A Brinks Hofer 32 25 16 Connolly Bove 32 25 27 DLA Piper 32 25 6 Greenberg Traurig 32 29 13 Weil, Gotshal 31 30 16 Perkins Coie 29 31 27 Goodwin Procter 27 31 N/A K&L Gates 27 31 31 Wilson Sonsini 27 34 N/A Wilmer 26 35 N/A Banner & Witcoff 25 Who Represents Plaintiffs in District Court? Rank 2008 Rank 2007 Firm Plaintiff Cases 1 7 Niro, Scavone 48 2 3 Fish & Richardson 37 3 N/A Morrison & Foerster 25 4 2 Cooley Godward 23 5 14 Heller Ehrman 21 6 3 Foley & Lardner 19 6 6 Howrey 19 8 7 Connolly Bove 18 8 1 Jones Day 18 8 17 Sidley Austin 18 11 14 Kenyon & Kenyon 16 11 N/A Townsend and Townsend 16 13 N/A Fitzpatrick Cella 15 13 N/A Morgan Lewis 15 Who Represents Defendants in District Court? Rank 2008 Rank 2007 Firm Defense Cases 1 1 Fish & Richardson 61 2 2 Kirkland & Ellis 49 3 5 Morrison & Foerster 44 4 4 Howrey 43 2 4 Winston & Strawn 43 6 3 Jones Day 37 7 7 Baker Botts 32 9 7 Knobbe Martens 32 9 11 McDermott Will 31 10 11 Finnegan, Henderson 30 11 14 Kenyon & Kenyon 29 12 24 Alston & Bird 28 13 N/A Akin Gump 26 13 N/A Brinks Hofer 26 13 6 Foley & Lardner 26 13 N/A Morgan Lewis 26 17 N/A Quinn Emanuel 24 18 N/A K&L Gates 23 18 15 Kilpatrick Stockton 23 20 24 DLA Piper 22 20 10 Greenberg Traurig 22 20 19 Sidley Austin 22 20 19 Weil, Gotshal 22 24 28 Fulbright Jaworski 21 24 27 Michael Best 21 26 N/A McAndrews Held 20 26 15 Wilson Sonsini 20 Who Represents Appellants at the Federal Circuit? Rank 2008 Firm Appellant Cases 1 Fish & Richardson 12 2 Finnegan, Henderson 10 3 McDermott Will 8 3 Sidley Austin 8 5 Howrey 7 6 Robins, Kaplan 6 7 Knobbe Martens 5 8 Heller Ehrman 4 8 Oblon Spivak 4 8 Patterson Belknap 4 8 Wilmer 4 8 Winston & Strawn 4 13 Baker Botts 3 13 Cooley Godward 3 13 DLA Piper 3 13 Greenberg Traurig 3 13 Jones Day 3 13 Kenyon & Kenyon 3 13 Kirkland & Ellis 3 13 Paul Hastings 3 13 Vinson Elkins 3 Who Represents Appellees at the Federal Circuit? Rank 2008 Firm Appellee Cases 1 Howrey 12 2 Paul Hastings 6 3 Dechert 5 4 Finnegan, Henderson 4 4 Fish & Richardson 4 4 Goodwin Procter 4 4 McAndrews Held 4 8 Baker Botts 3 8 Foley & Lardner 3 8 Kirkland & Ellis 3 8 McDermott Will 3 8 Morrison & Foerster 3 8 Wilmer 3

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