Juanita Brooks, a litigator and principal at Fish & Richardson’s San Diego-based Southern California office, was named a Thought Leader of Patents by Who’s Who Legal for demonstrating leadership, excellence and longevity within her legal career.
Since 1996, Who’s Who Legal has identified the foremost legal practitioners and consulting experts in business law based upon comprehensive, independent research. The 2018 Thought Leaders consist of only those listed practitioners who obtained the highest number of nominations from peers, private practice lawyers, corporate counsel and other market sources in the most recent research cycle. Only two percent of all the eminent practitioners listed across Who¹s Who Legal guides were selected.
Brooks is a nationally-recognized trial and appellate lawyer specializing in complex intellectual property, product liability and mass tort litigation. She is known for her master storytelling and inherent ability to translate complex technical jargon into relatable conversational terms that both judges and juries understand. She is a hard-hitting cross-examiner who represents companies from startups to Fortune 100 businesses.
Nicknamed “a titan of the patent bar,” an “IP icon,” and a “jury whisperer,” Brooks has led more than 150 trials throughout her 40-year career. Brooks’ courtroom success translates to billions of dollars in verdicts and savings to clients while paving the way for new patent laws to be established.
In 2017, Brooks helped GlaxoSmithKline LLC (GSK) secure a $235 million jury verdict in a patent infringement lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. involving GSK’s highly-successful drug Coreg, which is used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. She also successfully defended longtime client Microsoft in an infringement case regarding two patents covering methods and apparatuses for creating and managing custom websites.
Most recently, Brooks secured a unanimous Federal Circuit opinion affirming a 2016 trial where she helped Gilead Sciences obtain a reversal of a $200 million verdict in favor of Merck & Co, Inc. in a case involving Gilead’s cure for hepatitis C. After a jury awarded Merck damages for patent infringement, Brooks moved to re-open the record and presented evidence that convinced the judge that Merck and its attorneys were guilty of unclean hands due to the dishonest actions of Merck’s legal counsel, leading the judge to wipe out the entire verdict. The court later awarded legal fees to Gilead, to be paid by Merck.
Last year, she was inducted into the California State Bar Litigation Section’s Trial Lawyer Hall Fame and the Litigation Counsel of America as a fellow for exemplifying the highest of values and professional achievement, as well as her accomplishments in both the courtroom and community.
Brooks has been named “Litigator of the Year” by The American Lawyer and has also been honored by numerous organizations including the National Law Journal, Managing Intellectual Property, Daily Journal, Best Lawyers in America, Law360, Benchmark Litigation and LMG Life Sciences North America.
Brooks was recognized at the Who’s Who Legal awards ceremony on May 8 at Plaisterer’s Hall in London.
Fish & Richardson is a global intellectual property firm offering patent prosecution, counseling, and litigation; trademark and copyright prosecution, counseling, and litigation; and commercial litigation services. Established in 1878, and now with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists in the U.S. and Europe, our success is rooted in our creative and inclusive culture, which values the diversity of people, experiences, and perspectives. Fish is the No. 1 ranked U.S. patent litigation firm, handling nearly three times as many cases as our nearest competitor; a powerhouse patent and trademark prosecution firm; a top-tier trademark and copyright litigation firm; and the most-active firm at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Fish continues to win cases worth billions in controversy often by making new law for the world¹s most innovative and influential technology leaders. For more information, visit fr.com or follow us at @FishRichardson.