Non-IP Litigation & Enforcement

"Classic old-line DC firm" Arnold & Porter doubled down on its already unassailable status in the antitrust arena by assuming national firm Kaye Scholer over the past two years, bringing a whole new roster of antitrust stars into the fold from that firm, and adding a vibrant product liability practice (spanning the DC, New York and California offices) to boot.

New York's Saul Morgenstern defended King Pharmaceuticals in several federal and state class actions, valued at $300 million, brought on behalf of direct purchasers, indirect purchasers for resale and end-payor purchasers of Skelaxin, a brand-name prescription drug, in cases in which the plaintiffs allege that King and a co-defendant entity conspired to prevent or delay generic competition for Skelaxin. Morgenstern and DC-based "hard-nosed antitrust trial lawyer" Laura Shores defended Pfizer and its subsidiary Warner-Lambert in an antitrust action. The State of Louisiana alleges that the clients improperly listed certain patents covering Neurontin, a brand-name anti-seizure medicine, in the FDA Orange book and enforced those patents against manufacturers of potential generic gabapentin, delaying generic entry and causing the state to pay higher prices for branded Neurontin. The matter was resolved by a settlement in May 2017, in which Pfizer will donate to certain state agencies a drug used to treat opiate overdoses.

New York's Andrew Solow and Los Angeles' Pamela Yates have been providing national counsel to Endo Pharmaceuticals in product liability litigation involving testosterone products since 2013. The first bellwether victory came in October 2017, when Solow secured a Daubert/summary judgment win. In May 2018, the firm argued plaintiff's appeal before the Seventh Circuit, and that decision is pending. The second victory came in November 2017, when the firm trial team (led by Pamela Yates, and co-counsel Jim Herschlein and Andrew Solow) secured a defense verdict in the first MDL bellwether jury trial. Following these two major victories, in early 2018, the firm then negotiated a case management order that required all plaintiffs to produced affirmative evidence of product usage and contemporaneous injury, an order that has resulted in a significant number of dismissals in the litigation.

While it saw its origins in Birmingham, Alabama (where it is still the gold standard among that state's legal community), Bradley Arant Boult Cummings has since morphed into an increasingly sprawling dominator in the Southeast. Despite being a regional firm, Bradley Arant has taken on and triumphed over many firms of a much greater size and national stature. A full-service firm, with litigation encompassing a variety of practices, the firm has particularly made a mark in the product liability capacity.

In a prime example of the firm punching above its weight, Birmingham's Lindsey Boney has served as national counsel for Bayer since the first lawsuit was filed concerning the Xarelto drug, including participating in strategy development, fact investigation, company discovery, expert workups, bellwether pool case workups, and trial. A multi-office team composed of Huntsville's Kim Martin, Charlotte's Dana Lumsden, and Nashville's Lela Hollabaugh represent Avectus Healthcare Solutions, a hospital service provider, in six different class actions in North Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee challenging the hospitals' use of Avectus for these services on various grounds. Martin and Boney, along with Tripp Haston, provide national counsel for Wyeth, a Pfizer subsidiary, in a set of litigation involving claims of injury from the marketing of an anti-arrhythmic drug, Cordarone. Even though they never took Cordarone manufactured by Wyeth, plaintiffs are claiming injury and contending that Wyeth should be liable as the brand name innovator of this medication.

Debevoise & Plimpton is better known as one of New York's premier white-collar, securities and international arbitration brand names, but the firm has as of late been making its mark in the life sciences realm as well.

The firm received a noteworthy boost in this capacity in 2018, when it lured star litigator Ted Hassi to its smaller DC office, hiring him away from O'Melveny & Myers in what many agree was a considerable coup. Hassi represented Impax, a California-based specialty pharmaceutical company, in an FTC investigation and Part III administrative enforcement action alleging that Impax and Endo Pharmaceuticals entered into a reverse payment settlement to block consumers' access to lower-cost generic versions of the pain relief medication Opana ER. Trial in those proceedings concluded in November 2017 and, in May 2018, Hassi secured a decision rejecting the FTC's claims in their entirety, having convinced the court that a full competitive effects analysis under the rule of reason was required, and that the alleged "pay-for-delay" settlement in issue was in fact procompetitive, despite the FTC staff's claim otherwise. The trial decision is currently on appeal to the full Commission.

New York's Ed Schallert secured a victory following almost nine years of litigation in the Celexa and Lexapro Marketing and Sales Practices multidistrict litigation, when a summary judgment in Allergan's favor was granted and all claims of the remaining plaintiffs were dismissed. This avoids a jury trial that had been scheduled to begin March 12. Mark Goodman and John Gleeson advised Forest Laboratories and Forest Pharmaceuticals in a successful dismissal of a qui tam complaint brought under the False Claims Act relating to the marketing of the pharmaceutical drug Namenda.

Already a substantial name in the life sciences arena, Philadelphia-spawned but globally entrenched Dechert upped its game in 2018, when a group of star players in the product liability capacity, including practice leader Sheila Birnbaum, celebrated for decades as "The Queen of Torts," and her colleague Mark Cheffo, decamped from Quinn Emanuel and joined this firm's New York office. "This is big news," observes a peer. "Watch this space for how it plays out for both sides."

Chicago's Nathan Hoffman represents AbbVie Biotherapeutics in national product liability litigation related to AbbVie's product AndroGel, a testosterone replacement therapy. AbbVie is a defendant in approximately 4,300 cases in an MDL in the Northern District of Illinois, and is a defendant in an additional 200 cases in state courts in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Mississippi, and New York. The Dechert team developed and defended the company witnesses through both deposition and trial. The team responded to all written and documentary discovery aimed at the company, and conducted discovery of plaintiffs in the "bellwether" cases selected for trial in the MDL, Illinois, and Missouri. Dechert lawyers also worked cooperatively with firm Paul Weiss to develop expert witnesses and direct the legal strategy and prepare briefing as the litigation developed.

An undisputed titan of litigation services, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher earns plaudits from peers and clients alike for its dispute resolution team dispersed through just about all of its offices. While the firm is a star player across many areas of practice, it is making a notable mark on the life sciences world as well.

Irvine-based Jeffrey Thomas represents Allergan in numerous matters. One involves claims for unfair competition, tortious interference with prospective economic advantage, and unjust enrichment as a result of allegedly misappropriating the plaintiff's confidential commercial development rights concerning treatment for Allergic Rhinitis. The plaintiff seeks compensatory damages in excess of $75 million and punitive damages in excess of $50 million. The firm has filed its reply brief on appeal and is now waiting for the court to set a date for oral argument.

In another matter, the plaintiff sought to recover $600 million in damages for claimed ongoing royalties on Allergan's Botox migraine treatment based on a license agreement and patents issued after the agreement was executed.  Allergan contended the patents did not justify the royalties being sought. The Court ruled for Allergan, finding the license agreement should not be interpreted as argued by the plaintiff. Dallas-based Sean Royall has served as the lead counsel for five years for Allergan in two related monopolization suits filed by a putative direct purchaser class and a generic ANDA challenger, both alleging that Allergan and its co-defendants engaged in improper acts to block or delay generic competition to Allergan's branded antibiotic eye solutions, Zymar and Zymaxid. Royall previously obtained dismissal of the one class action, seizing on a standing issue related to the plaintiff's attempt to sue based on an assignment from a drug wholesaler. Royall later argued this issue before the Third Circuit, which ultimately decided to remand and allow the case to proceed.

A firm whose many outposts garner as substantial a presence outside the US it does within it, Hogan Lovells is nonetheless noted as a DC-area mainstay. In the life sciences practice, the firm offers a comprehensive array of services spanning antitrust, regulatory and white-collar enforcement.

Product liability star Lauren Colton achieved a significant victory for Medtronic. The suit was brought by Humana in which Humana claimed that Medtronic had fraudulently manipulated medical literature regarding the company's Infuse bone graft device, and had coached physicians as part of an illicit campaign to promote off-label use of its product. In an earlier decision, a Tennessee court rejected Humana's allegations and dismissed Humana's subrogation and state consumer protection claims. The court also concluded that federal law pre-empted Humana's warranty claims, and that its claims of unjust enrichment and conversion were inapplicable. The court subsequently denied Humana's motion for leave to file an amended complaint. Humana then filed a motion for interlocutory appeal, which Colton opposed. While the parties were awaiting a ruling on this motion, the case resolved on terms favorable to Medtronic. Appellate heavyweight Neal Katyal led a precedent-setting victory at the US Supreme Court for Bristol-Myers Squibb, which resulted in a ruling that will limit states' ability to hear mass tort, product liability cases brought by plaintiffs that did not purchase or use the product at issue in the state.

A New York litigation shop that has freed itself to take on disputes of any variety on behalf of plaintiffs or defendants, Kasowitz Benson Torres has been, and continues to be, a name synonymous with hard-charging litigation against financial institutions.

It has, however, made considerable strides in the life sciences realm via its representation of Teva and its US subsidiary Actavis. Sheron Korpus is defending numerous antitrust class actions consolidated in an MDL in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania that allege price-fixing of 18 generic drugs, and an antitrust action alleging price-fixing of two generic drugs brought by 40 States Attorneys General in the District of Connecticut.

With origins in Atlanta, King & Spalding is today a global powerhouse with a dominant position in many areas of practice. After its prized position in the energy industry, perhaps the practice space in which the firm is most deeply entrenched is in the life sciences world. "They are very deep in that market," notes a peer.

Los Angeles's Alexander Calfo secured a defense verdict for Johnson & Johnson in its first talc/mesothelioma case to go to verdict in the country. Bringing suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, a plaintiff claimed she developed mesothelioma as a result of exposure to alleged asbestos-contaminated talcum powder products, including Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower body powder. In November 2017, after a two-month-long trial, the jury returned a defense verdict in favor of the client and its talc supplier, finding the companies had not acted negligently, and their products contained no manufacturing, design, or warning defects. The day after this verdict, Calfo secured yet another one for this same client against a different plaintiff.

DC's Wick Sollers represents Michael Babich, the former President and CEO of Insys Therapeutics in a criminal case brought by the US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, and also represents the current CEO of an international pharmaceutical manufacturer in connection with an ongoing criminal and civil investigation by DOJ into the company's sales and marketing practices. The investigation in the latter case is focused on, among other things, safety and comparative claims allegedly made by the company, and the level of scientific data to support those claims. Houston's Tracie Renfroe has represented Johnson & Johnson and DePuy Orthopedics against personal injury claims relating to one of its total metal-on-metal hip arthroplasty products. The matter involves multi-district litigation and multi-state litigation with several thousand lawsuits filed, over two million documents produced, and over 100 fact and expert witnesses involved.

While it is more widely recognized for its position as a "clear leader" in the corporate transactional space, Latham & Watkins also boasts a rising profile in the litigation and disputes capacity as well.

The firm is perhaps most famed for its antitrust prowess, with Dan Wall being noted by a unanimous sampling of peers as "a stellar presence." Wall leads a team that represents Genentech, a biopharmaceutical manufacturer, in an antitrust litigation filed by Russian drug manufacturer Biocad JSC. Biocad alleges that defendants violated the federal antitrust laws and other state and federal laws by engaging in a scheme to prevent Biocad from introducing into the US market generic versions of three major cancer drugs manufactured by Roche, including implementing illegal tying arrangements and engaging in predatory pricing. The Plaintiff asserts violations of the Sherman Act, Clayton Act, and Robinson-Patman Act, in addition to various business tort claims under New York state law. In a major victory for Genentech, the court granted defendants' motions, dismissing the complaint in its entirety with prejudice in September 2017. 

Chicago-based national and international leader Mayer Brown houses a broad spectrum of litigators throughout its various US offices.

Arguably the firm's greatest entry point in the life sciences world is its antitrust practice. A Chicago-based leader in this space, Daniel Ring represents St Jude Medical and Abbott Laboratories, now combined as one of the world's leading medical device companies, in a matter involving the first-known public effort by a short seller to partner with a cybersecurity research firm to short a stock based on claimed cybersecurity vulnerabilities. St Jude alleges that Muddy Waters and MedSec ran a short-selling scheme by spreading false and misleading information about its devices in order to drive down stock prices and collect the ensuing profits. Ring filed a complaint on St Jude's behalf claiming defamation, Lanham Act violations, deceptive trade practices, and civil conspiracy.

Ring and DC-based appellate specialist Andrew Tauber serve as co-counsel or lead counsel to this same client in several other matters, including the defense of the company in product liability suits in multiple jurisdictions arising out of alleged defects in its Riata defibrillator leads, and the defense of the client in a securities class action arising out of alleged misrepresentations. The pair has also represented the company in connection with other devices, recently securing dismissal of all claims in a case pending in Illinois involving a vascular closure device.

National player McDermott Will & Emery, and in particular, DC-based Ray Jacobsen, has been retained as lead counsel to defend Impax Laboratories in generic pharmaceuticals pricing antitrust litigation, a multidistrict litigation consolidated in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. This MDL consolidates over 70 cases alleging that the leading generic pharmaceutical manufacturers conspired to raise the price of 18 different generic drugs. The class-action litigation stems from a number of government investigations by Congress, state attorneys general, and the Department of Justice.

Morgan Lewis & Bockius is one of the life sciences industry's most dominant and deepest legal service providers, with a number of its extensive network offices throughout the US attending to both litigation, investigation and regulatory work.

Domiciled in the firm's Philadelphia office where the firm's genesis began, Eric Sitarchuk represented Rite Aid in connection with a US False Claims Act suit filed in state court in California with the threat of statutory penalties of up to $11,000 per claim and treble damages. A qui tam relator, a former claims processor for California Department of Health Care Services, alleged that Rite Aid had a policy of overcharging Medi-Cal by failing to report the prices offered to non-insured customers as its "usual and customary" price, and by not complying with regulations regarding when to dispense either generic or name-brand prescription drugs. The plaintiff, a former claims processor for California Department of Health Care Services, was a serial relator who had successfully filed "whistleblower" claims against other retail pharmacies. In January 2018, the appeal was dismissed on Rite Aid's motion, bringing the matter to a final and successful conclusion on behalf of the client.

Sitarchuk also successfully negotiated a settlement of a years-long FCA litigation against Cephalon in the US. The whistleblowers in the case alleged that Cephalon promoted two pharmaceutical products, Provigil and Nuvigil, for indications not approved by the FDA. Boston-based Jordan Hershman obtained a rare dismissal from the bench of a securities class action filed against Teva, with plaintiffs alleging that it had engaged in antitrust violations that also allegedly supported federal securities law claims. Nonetheless, at the conclusion of the Teva oral argument, the court granted the Morgan Lewis team's motions to dismiss, without prejudice, all claims asserted against all Teva defendants.

While O'Melveny & Myers is not a firm that fashions itself as a life sciences specialty shop, two of its biggest wins of the year have involved this industry, logged by two Los Angeles trial lawyers.

Celebrity courtroom ace Dan Petrocelli secured a complete defense verdict for Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson in the first bellwether trial in a California Coordinated Proceeding involving more than 10,000 claims over the antipsychotic medication Risperdal. The trial involved claims by a 24-year-old Kansas man that he developed gynecomastia from prior Risperdal use. The plaintiff was prescribed Risperdal "off-label" as a child, for severe violence and behavioral issues, before it was approved by the FDA for children. Petrocelli and the O'Melveny team also exposed that the plaintiff's claim had been manufactured after his mother saw an attorney advertisement on television and that the plaintiff did not even have gynecomastia; any enlargement of his breasts was due to fatty, rather than glandular, tissue. After a more than two-week trial, the jury rendered a verdict for the defense in less than two hours. Several more Risperdal cases are set for trial in 2018.

Richard Goetz is defending Amylin, a subsidiary of AstraZeneca, against claims brought by hundreds of plaintiffs in personal injury cases involving Byetta, an injectable medication for type-2 diabetes, in a California Coordinated Proceeding and a federal multidistrict litigation. The suits allege that Amylin failed to adequately test and monitor the side effects of the drug, and did not warn doctors or patients of the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer and/or pancreatitis. The federal and state courts both granted summary judgment in the defendants' favor on preemption grounds, but the Ninth Circuit reversed to allow additional discovery, and the issues will then be briefed again. The state court order is on appeal.

Recognized for decades as one of the country's stronger and more dedicated firms in the product liability field, Reed Smith continues to enjoy that reputation today, housing several star practitioners in this arena. "Reed Smith has product liability litigators all over the place," observes one peer, "and among them, there are some real standouts."

Chief among the referenced "standout" group, Philadelphia's Barbara Binis is a frequent mention. Binis serves as national litigation counsel to Endo and its subsidiary AMS in the transvaginal mesh litigation, involving more than 30,000 cases. Binis and her team are responsible for overall defense strategy, lead trial counsel roles, and overall coordination in this mass tort litigation involving 11 surgical mesh products that treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence. In addition, she took the lead on settling the first inventory of claims and in settling some of the cases about to go to trial. Another star player championed as such for decades is Los Angeles' Michael Brown, who has (along with Pepper Hamilton and Mayer Brown) represented Medtronic in all aspects of the Infuse bone graft product liability litigation pending around the country and is now in the process of successfully wrapping up the last of these cases.

Primarily known and celebrated as a New York entity with a significant stronghold on the private equity and hedge fund industry, Schulte Roth & Zabel made a lucrative foray into the life sciences field when it lured prominent white-collar specialist Adam Hoffinger to its smaller and newer DC office (from that city's Morrison & Foerster outpost) in 2014. "Time will tell how that plays out in the long run, but Adam Hoffinger is still Adam Hoffinger, and that name packs a punch. And he does actual criminal representations, not just quasi-criminal investigations and enforcement, but real hard-core 'dirty work.' He's got a lot of war stories he could tell."

With origins in Chicago and still one of that city's mainstay entities, Sidley Austin has since grown to a dominant position on the national stage, with star players populating all of its offices throughout the US. The firm is unquestionably recognized as a leader in the life sciences sector, armed with one of the most comprehensively staffed departments in this capacity of any major or minor firm. "I can't think of any firm off the top of my head that even comes close," ventures a peer. "From regulatory clearance, to IP, and right down to all-out court battles, Sidley has got it all covered. They really do it all."

Whether coincidentally or not, Sidley is also noted for boasting a roster equipped with some of the most celebrated female litigators, many of whom specifically attend to matters involving life sciences. Chicago's Sara Gourley serves as co-lead counsel for Smith & Nephew in cases targeting the company's hip-resurfacing prosthesis, the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System. These cases variously allege claims for strict liability and manufacturing defect, failure to file adverse event reports and design defect claims, as well as breach of express and implied warranty.

Another Chicago star, Maja Eaton is representing Ferring Pharmaceuticals in class-action litigation, as well as individual personal injury and economic loss lawsuits, that have arisen out of the company's recall of Bravelle, a fertility medicine used to help women produce multiple eggs in assisted reproductive technology procedures, including intrauterine insemination and in vitro fertilization procedures.

Los Angeles-based "product liability rockstar" Debra Pole represented Janssen Pharmaceuticals before a Philadelphia court, winning a key mid-trial victory when a Pennsylvania state judge issued a decision denying claims that an adolescent boy grew female breasts after being prescribed the antipsychotic drug Risperdal. Another LA star, white-collar practitioner Kimberly Dunne, is co-lead counsel in the defense of Celgene in a False Claims Act case where the relator sought damages and penalties of approximately $40 billion based on allegations that unlawful off-label promotion and kickbacks caused federal, state and local governments to reimburse false claims for payment for two drugs. The case resolved by settlement, which was finalized as of August 2017.

One of the "gold-standard" national firms for both corporate and litigation work, Skadden Arps Meagher Slate & Flom has staked an unshakeable claim in the life sciences sphere through litigation involving elements of securities, commercial, product liability, antitrust and white-collar matters. "Skadden just always seem to be a little head-and-shoulders over even the best firms," notes one peer regarding the firm's disputes acumen.

Among its many high-level appointments, DC white-collar and investigations practitioner Jennifer Spaziano, assessed by a local peer as being "very active and quite smart," recently secured a dismissal of a False Claims suit brought against client Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. The allegations related to the promotion of Abilify, one of the biggest selling drugs in the United States with annual sales in the billions.

A full-service player on the national stage, Weil Gotshal & Manges has a long history of dominance in servicing some of the most prominent brand names in the life sciences industry, and an extensive network of practitioners distributed among its many US offices through which to service them. "Weil has always had a bit of an edge in this industry," notes a peer. "They got in early, particularly in the product liability area."

The gravitas of the alluded-to practice could arguably be most attributed to Diane Sullivan, based in the firm's Princeton office, who is recognized as one of the practice's busiest and most famed trial lawyers. Continuing a decades-long streak of high-level appointments, Sullivan served as lead trial counsel for Walgreens Boots Alliance, the owner and operator of the nationwide drugstore chain, in several high-profile consumer class actions filed against it and Theranos, the embattled (and now bankrupt) Silicon Valley entity that went from industry darling to corporate disgrace. The complaints allege that Theranos' finger-stick blood tests, which used its proprietary "Edison" blood-testing device, (and were ultimately proved fraudulent) were inaccurate, placing tens of thousands of customers at risk for incorrect medical diagnosis and/or testing. Walgreens and Theranos moved to dismiss the plaintiffs' complaint. In June 2017, a judge dismissed the majority of plaintiffs' claims, allowing plaintiffs to amend some, but not all, of the claims.

New York securities partner John Neuwirth has represented Sanofi in, among other matters, multiple federal litigations commenced by holders, or the representative of holders, of contingent value rights issued by Sanofi as partial consideration for its $20.1 billion acquisition of Genzyme Corporation in 2011. Also in New York, Yehudah Buchweitz also represents Sanofi as a plaintiff in a high-profile antitrust lawsuit against Mylan for anticompetitive business practices to unlawfully maintain its $1 billion EpiPen monopoly. In December 2017, virtually every aspect of Mylan's motion to dismiss the complaint was denied, a significant victory for Sanofi.

Few firms have the global footprint claimed by White & Case. The firm is a vast expanse of offices situated throughout a staggering number of metropolises worldwide, staffed by practitioners noted as being some of the world's biggest authorities in their respective capacities. "Many firms talk about 'long corridors' and 'global reach' in their PR, but White & Case really walks the walk," confirms one peer. "They not only have all of the major the practices covered, they even have sub-specialties, some of which are quite novel." In the life sciences arena, the firm has been at the forefront of several major matters on a yearly basis, many involving the antitrust, white collar crime and intellectual property areas.

New York star Glenn Kurtz led the firm's representation of Anthem in obtaining the dismissal of a putative ERISA class action that challenged Anthem's pharmacy drug pricing practices. While Kurtz is an all-purpose commercial litigator, peers take pains to note that "White & Case has really upped its game in the life sciences arena, and Heather McDevitt is largely the coordinator of that area." McDevitt is the head of the firm's global pharmaceuticals and healthcare group, and currently represents Forest Laboratories in a New York state antitrust investigation related to marketing and sale of the client's Namenda product.

Robert Milne, domiciled in the firm's New York office, served as an antitrust trial attorney with the US Department of Justice and inspired one industry competitor to describe him as "a fine lawyer – someone that is very active in his practice and someone who has lived up to his promise as a young lawyer." Another practitioner describes Milne as "someone who offers his clients a unique set of skills," and added that "he has the ability to handle things most attorneys are not able to." Mark Gidley, Christopher Curran and Pete Carney recently represented US-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Upsher-Smith Laboratories in an antitrust multidistrict litigation.

As a purely litigation-based shop, Washington DC's Williams & Connolly is revered as a "crown jewel" of the dispute resolution world, with many of its practitioners regularly called upon to actually go to trial. While the firm's individual and collective trial prowess extends well beyond the life sciences industry, Williams & Connolly has seen some particularly noteworthy successes in this arena.

The firm's product liability capacity in particular has seen a nearly uninterrupted streak of wins, with practitioners Joseph Petrosinelli, addressed by peers as "their real 'stud' over there now," and Heidi Hubbard being the most prominent personalities. Hubbard, a noted specialist in the pharmaceutical and medical device field, secured another triumph in June 2017, when a Delaware jury returned a complete defense verdict in favor of Alcon in a $400 million matter. Enu Mainigi, a specialist in white-collar, fraud and False Claims Act matters, represents CVS Health and CVS Pharmacy in a putative class action relating to its Health Savings Pass generic discount drug program.

All-purpose trial ace Dane Butswinkas leads a team that was retained to represent Celgene in two significant antitrust cases that are being widely followed by the antitrust bar: Mylan v. Celgene, which involves allegations that Celgene delayed Mylan's development of generic versions of Thalomid and Revlimid by refusing to sell samples of branded product to Mylan for purposes of conducting bioequivalency testing; and In re: Thalomid & Revlimid Antitrust Litigation, putative class-action litigation on behalf of indirect purchasers of these drugs who allege that Celgene engaged in various conduct to delay development of generic versions of these drugs.

Described by industry peers as "a go-to firm for the big-bucks litigation," WilmerHale is a large full-service firm that inspires competitor praise on a regular basis, with many of its litigators boasting star-power status. While WilmerHale's brand-name practitioners in the appellate and intellectual property realm are sufficiently documented, the firm is generating an increasing amount of notice in the securities and enforcement field as well.

New York securities-based partner Michael Bongiorno is defending Solid Biosciences in securities class action suits related to the company's IPO and post-IPO statements addressing its primary product in clinical development. Howard Shapiro serves as chair of the litigation group, and is currently representing a major pharmaceutical maker in an investigation by the Department of Justice. Emily Schulman is a trial lawyer with experience in internal and government investigations, and white-collar defense.