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Silver - Firms: litigation
A go-to firm for strategic advice and high-stakes patent litigation, Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider benefits from the experience, expertise and client-focused approach of its team. In the past 10 years, its practitioners have acted as lead counsel in more than 250 litigations, many of which are on behalf of some of the world’s leading companies. Pivotal to the outfit’s success are Matthew Becker, Chad Landmon and Matthew Murphy. Becker is the outfit’s managing partner and is a seasoned litigator who represents the likes of Samsung in vitally important patent matters. Landmon chairs the IP group and focuses on patent cases related to food and drug law. He has a wealth of trial experience and has litigated over 50 cases in the past decade alone. Murphy is another standout litigator at the practice. He is a life sciences expert who regularly comes up with unique remedies arguments.
Axinn combines the skills, experience and dedication of the world’s largest firms with the focus, responsiveness, efficiency and attention to client needs of the best boutiques. The firm was established in the late 1990s by lawyers from premier Wall Street firms with a common vision: provide the highest level of service and strategic acumen in antitrust, IP and high-stakes litigation. Axinn’s lawyers have served as lead or co-lead counsel on nearly half a trillion dollars in transactions and, in the past 10 years alone, have handled more than 300 litigations.
Axinn has numerous seasoned IP trial lawyers and has become a go-to firm for IP matters of strategic importance. The firm typically has two dozen or more pending patent and trade secret cases, and often tries multiple cases annually. Axinn has served as lead trial counsel in some of the most significant recent patent cases for the world’s leading pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, diagnostics and consumer products companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Thermo Fisher, Unilever and Par Pharmaceuticals. On numerous occasions, the firm has been asked to take over cases during or after discovery and serve as lead counsel at trial, including the defence of a multi-billion dollar jury trial. Utilising their advocacy skills, within the past few years Axinn attorneys have obtained, for example, a favourable Federal Circuit decision on a novel double patenting legal issue that led to a settlement which allowed the firm’s client to market an important influenza treatment; a multi-million dollar jury verdict in a medical device patent case involving spinal implants; and the first-ever decision by a district court ordering the Food and Drug Administration to approve a generic version of a drug. Attorneys also offer an exceptional depth of technical experience, including numerous attorneys with advanced technical degrees and extensive hands-on industry training.
Axinn has more than 70 full-time antitrust lawyers working on M&A, litigation, and criminal and conduct investigations. Axinn has been global lead on mergers worth close to half a trillion dollars, including Dell’s $67 billion acquisition of EMC; Thermo Fisher’s $13.6 billion acquisition of Life Technologies and $12.5 billion tender offer of QIAGEN; Ball Corporation’s $6 billion acquisition of Rexam; Johnson Controls’ $2 billion sale of Scott Safety to 3M; and McKesson’s $3.4 billion joint venture with Change Healthcare. Axinn has extensive experience in major trials and class actions, including In Re Blue Cross antitrust litigation (for IBC), Poultry Growers antitrust litigation (for Tyson Foods), SawStop (for Stanley Black & Decker), biosimilar antitrust litigation (for Momenta), German and Asian auto parts litigation, as well as monopolisation and conspiracy cases for Thermo Fisher, Danfoss, Hexcel, University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre and Affinia. The firm has litigated six merger cases brought by government agencies (winning five) and has a strong presence and track record in ongoing Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal antitrust matters and related litigation, including in auto parts and air cargo. The antitrust group has extensive experience in matters involving antitrust and IP issues, including Google’s settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on standard-essential patents and is lead counsel in a major litigation involving biosimilars. Axinn has deep contacts with the staff and front offices of the FTC and DOJ in both Republican and Democratic administrations and employs lawyers with more than 60 years of government antitrust experience.
Axinn serves clients for whom high-stakes litigation is a vital or unavoidable aspect of business. In recent years, Axinn has defeated billions of dollars in asserted liability for defendants and obtained hundreds of millions of dollars for plaintiffs. Axinn lawyers regularly try cases across the United States and in arbitral forums, and are often brought in to handle cases that are close to trial. Axinn has unusually broad experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants. The firm has devised creative solutions for clients that have earned them hundreds of millions of dollars as plaintiffs. Axinn lawyers have also successfully defended the firm’s clients against class actions and business disputes involving everything from insurance coverage, auction rate securities, cybersecurity, data breaches and healthcare financing, to cell phones, infant formula, auto parts and cable television.
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