Best Lawyers in America for Litigation - Patent
Select a location from the list below to find the best legal talent for your needs.
State
Steven Gardner is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Intellectual Property, Litigation - Patent and Patent Law. Steven, who practices law in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been recognized since 2007. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Steven is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Eric Acker is a partner and trial lawyer in the firm’s Intellectual Property Group. Mr. Acker has tried more than 50 trials (including more than 47 jury trials) in courtrooms across the country. Mr. Acker’s recent trials have involved a variety of technologies and significant legal issues. In the high-profile SCO v. Novell case, following a three-week trial, the jury affirmed our client Novell’s ownership of the copyrights to the UNIX software code and rejected SCO’s c...
Dick’s litigation and appellate practice focuses primarily on business and commercial disputes, employment law, education law, and civil rights cases that are typically resolved in federal court. He frequently appears in the U.S. District Courts for the Districts of Maine and New Hampshire and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Dick devotes a significant portion of his practice to the representation of individuals with disabilities and their families, often in cases ari...
Cindy Vreeland is a nationally recognized litigator with more than 30 years experience litigating a range of high-stakes disputes, with a particular focus on patent and trade secret litigation. She has served as lead or co-lead counsel in more than 20 trials, successfully trying cases in technologies ranging from wireless devices, semiconductor chips and computer storage, to medical devices, superconducting materials and pharmaceuticals. Ms. Vreeland’s work earned her a spot as one of o...
Joe Mueller, the Co-Chair of WilmerHale’s firm-wide Trial Practice, is a top national trial lawyer who has played a leading role in dozens of high-stakes trials in courts across the country. Just since 2020, Mr. Mueller has first-chaired the trial teams in eight trials that each involved billion-dollar stakes, as well as two other trials that each involved multi-hundred-million-dollar stakes. He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the preeminent professional organizati...
Mark J. Abate is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Intellectual Property, Litigation - Patent and Patent Law. Mark J., who practices law in New York, New York, has been recognized since 2008. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Mark J. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Trenton A. Ward is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Patent and Patent Law. Trenton A., who practices law in Atlanta, Georgia, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Trenton A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Rex A. Mann is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Intellectual Property and Litigation - Patent. Rex A., who practices law in Dallas, Texas, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Rex A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Jonathan A. Harris is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Intellectual Property and Litigation - Patent. Jonathan A., who practices law in Boston, Massachusetts, has been recognized since 2018. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Jonathan A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Robert Gunther has over 35 years of experience as a trial lawyer representing life sciences, pharmaceutical and technology clients in intellectual property and technology litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. Mr. Gunther is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and he has consistently been selected by Chambers USA , Managing IP magazine, LMG Life Sciences and IAM as a leading lawyer in the area of patent litigation.
Household names in the technology and entertainment sectors and famous brands in all areas of consumer products and services rely on Kristin as an advocate and trusted advisor on IP, general advertising and competition issues. She has counseled multinational clients in multiple high-profile disputes involving novel ecommerce issues. She also gives strategic advice to clients on exploiting their copyrights and trademarks over social media, and on how to best protect their IP rights in software...
Michael McBride is an intellectual property and patent trial lawyer who focuses primarily on high-stakes, complex patent litigation and patent prosecution matters in which his deep technical skills as an electrical engineer are a powerful asset to his clients. His vast experience in patent disputes over the last 13 years includes cases in venues across the country involving semiconductor manufacturing and transistor design, flash memory controllers, fiber optic networks, digital video compres...
With more than 25 years of Intellectual Property experience, Joel actively tries cases in both state and federal courts. A founding member and former co-chair of the firm's Intellectual Property and Technology Service Group, he manages all aspects of infringement litigation for both federal and state courts, including trial and appellate practice. He has also prepared and prosecuted trademark and copyright applications, prosecuted and defended trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.