Fish & Richardson Has Three Litigators Named "Trial Aces" by Law360

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Jul 29, 2015) - Fish & Richardson announced today that three of the firm's principals -- Juanita Brooks, Tom Melsheimer, and Frank Scherkenbach -- have been named to Law360's inaugural "Trial Aces" list of the 50 "greatest litigators in the country" who "are champions in the courtroom, leaders in their law firms, and heroes to their clients. They're the lawyers to call when losing is not an option."

Brooks, Melsheimer, and Scherkenbach were selected from 200 submissions, based on the number of high-stakes trials they've worked on, the role they played at trial, and the trial outcome. Most of the well-known law firms on the list had only one litigator selected, but Fish was one of only three firms to have three litigators on the list.

Brooks, who is based in Fish's Southern California office, was one of only six women litigators selected for the list. With a nationally recognized trial practice specializing in complex commercial and intellectual property litigation, she has handled more than 150 trials in her career, and her average yearly caseload includes nearly 30 active cases. Her specific areas of expertise include intellectual property, product liability, and qui tam litigation. Brooks has won numerous high stakes cases for Microsoft, Allergan, and Fresenius among many other big name clients. Brooks was named a prestigious "Litigator of the Year" by The American Lawyer in 2014 for her impressive work over the previous two years. Brooks is currently co-lead counsel for Fresenius in federal mass tort products liability litigation regarding its product Granuflo.

Melsheimer, who is the managing principal of Fish's Dallas office and head of the office's trial practice, has an unusually broad practice that encompasses both civil and criminal cases. He has served as lead or co-lead counsel in five separate cases recognized by the National Law Journal among the nation's "Top Verdicts of the Year." He maintains the rare distinction of trying six separate jury trials involving more than $1 billion in controversy each. His winning track record includes high-stakes patent infringement disputes, multimillion-dollar pharmaceutical liability claims, complex commercial disputes, and many others. Melsheimer's clients include Dallas Mavericks and team owner Mark Cuban, whom he successfully defended against insider trading charges brought by the SEC, Texas Instruments, SAP, and many others. In 2014, the Texas Chapters of the American Board of Trial Advocates named him the "Trial Lawyer of the Year."

Scherkenbach, who is based in Fish's Boston office, specializes in complex high technology litigation, and has served as lead counsel on hundreds of patent infringement cases. He has tried approximately 40 patent cases to jury verdict in addition to handling many bench trials and ITC cases. Four of his jury trial wins have been selected by the National Law Journal as the "Top Verdicts of the Year" including a win for Power Integrations in 2014. Over the past two years, he helped win two precedential cases at the Federal Circuit, including a case for long-time clients Microsoft, Citrix, and Adobe that has been called one of the most important patent appellate decisions of 2015 since it opens up new avenues for defending against allegations of infringement on both infringement and validity grounds. Another appellate win for Volcano Corp. was heralded as one of the most important administrative law decisions in years.

Fish & Richardson is a global patent, intellectual property (IP) litigation, and commercial litigation law firm with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists across the U.S. and Europe. Fish has been named the #1 patent litigation firm in the U.S. for 11 consecutive years. Fish has been winning cases worth billions in controversy -- often by making new law -- for the most innovative clients and influential industry leaders since 1878. For more information, visit www.fr.com.