Appeals and Appellate Counseling

We are premier Appellate Lawyers and Appeals Counselors

Appeals and Appellate CounselingWhen the most prominent personal injury lawyers in Orange County secured the largest Federal Tort Claims Act award against the U.S. government in history, they came to us to help defend the appeal. And we won, preserving a $54 million verdict for the injured Plaintiffs.

When modern, national internet 2.0 businesses were not subjected to personal jurisdiction in the federal courts in California, we took the appeal – and we won. The resulting landmark, published federal appellate ruling established proper personal jurisdiction standards for the modern internet world.

When a decorated United States Navy patent prosecutor was charged with inequitable conduct in patent prosecution by a trial court, we were asked to defend his reputation on appeal – and we won. The resulting landmark, published Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision clarified patent prosecution standards for patent prosecutors and in turn redeemed the Navy employee’s reputation.

Our appellate lawyers have clerked for the Ninth Circuit. Our appellate lawyers have litigated dozens of appeals in the Ninth Circuit, and the Federal Circuit and Patent Board of Appeals. Our appellate lawyers teach appellate advocacy. Our appellate lawyers run a Ninth Circuit appellate clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. At One LLP we are appellate lawyers. Many lawyers do appeals, but they are not appellate lawyers. Knowing the difference is critical. One LLP is the difference.

For clients, the selection of appellate counsel is an important decision, one that is often misunderstood because all too many people assume that an appellate lawyer is the same as a trial lawyer. Not so. Appellate lawyers have a new audience, one that has a different focus.  Knowing that difference is critical to presenting appellate arguments and defending against appeals seeking to upset favorable judgments. At its core, effective appellate advocates must know their audience of judges and know the appellate courts. We do, because this is what we do. Appellate advocates must be creative with the law. We are, because this is what we do.

Appellate Counseling

An appeal is not simply the next step in a case, and shrewd clients and trial lawyers recognize the need for adept appellate litigators to counsel them on appeal. For this reason, an effective appellate lawyer must do more than just litigate appeals. Appellate lawyers must also work with trial lawyers. At One LLP, we regularly work with trial counsel – whether as shadow appellate counsel or not – providing appellate counseling services without requiring any damage to the existing trial lawyer-client relationship.

These appellate counseling efforts also include the strategic use of amicus briefs to help aid an appeal. We have worked to provide and secure amicus support for large publicly traded companies for small businesses in niche industries, and even worked with the United States government in securing amicus briefing to help the government in complex patent cases.

We look forward to serving your appellate needs – whether for patent appellate counsel in the Federal Circuit or for copyright, trademark, trade secret or business appeals in the Ninth Circuit or California appellate courts – and working with your trial counsel in a collaborative fashion to best position you for success on appeal.

Appellate Litigation

We have argued appeals before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals (for patent cases), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Patent Board of Appeals, the California Courts of Appeal, and recently went to the United States Supreme Court for one of our pro bono cases.  Here is a sampling of published decisions in several noteworthy federal and state cases:

  • Betty Harris Clemons v. Charly Trademarks Ltd., __ F.3d ___ (2d Cir. 2016) (prevailed in copyright appeal)
  • Stop Staring v. Bettie Page Clothing, __ F.3d __ (9th Cir. 2015) (prevailed in trade dress appeal and in securing defense decision)
  • Randall May Int’l v. Dynasty Music, __ F.3d __ (Fed. Cir. 2014) (prevailed in patent fee appeal; secured hundreds of thousands in fees for client).
  • Network Signatures v. State Farm, 731 F.3d 1239 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (prevailed in patent inequitable conduct appeal).
  • Direct Technologies v. Electronic Arts, 2013 WL 2099222 (9th Cir. 2013) (prevailed in copyright appeal in case involving Copyright Act joint author issues).
  • Mavrix Photo, Inc. v. Brand Technologies, Inc., 647 F.3d 1218 (9th Cir. 2011) (prevailed in copyright personal jurisdiction appeal involving personal jurisdiction over modern internet businesses).
  • Henley v. DeVore, 733 F. Supp. 2d 1144 (C.D. Cal. 2010) (copyright infringement lawsuit involving fair use defense on behalf of a U.S. Senate candidate in a copyright lawsuit by famed singer Don Henley involving Don Henley’s songs “Boys of Summer” and “All She Wants To Do Is Dance”).
  • Gutierrez ex rel. Gutierrez v. United States, 2009 WL 784266 (9th Cir. 2009) (successfully defended as part of appellate team the largest Federal Tort Claim Act award in history, over $54,000,000).
  • McCormick v. Amir Construction, 279 Fed. Appx. 470 (9th Cir. 2008) (copyright case involving architectural designs; prevailed and subsequently awarded fees).
  • City of Hope Nat’l Medical Center v. Genentech, Inc., 43 Cal. 4th 375 (Cal. Supreme Court 2008) (patent development and fiduciary duty law).
  • Crow Irvine #2 v. Winthrop California Investors Limited Partnership, 128 Cal. Rptr. 2d 644 (Cal. Ct. Appeal 2002) (prevailed in business dissolution and termination dispute).
  • Vargas-Garcia v. INS, 287 F.3d 882 (9th Cir. 2002) (prevailed in federal due process claim against United States).