Winston & Strawn Named to National Law Journal’s “Appellate Hot List”

Winston & Strawn has been named to the National Law Journal’s 2014 “Appellate Hot List.” The list honors firms with outstanding achievements before the U.S. Supreme Court, federal circuit courts, and state courts.

Linda Coberly, chair of Winston & Strawn’s appellate and critical motions practice, explains that the group is often “imbedded with the trial team from the beginning.” In addition to handling cases that come to the firm for the first time on appeal, the group works with the firm’s trial lawyers on ongoing matters, handling critical motions and even attending the trial itself in an effort to prepare the case for success on appeal.

The NLJ reported on noteworthy cases handled by the group, including the favorable 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Hillman v Maretta. The June 2013 ruling set an important precedent on preemption of state law for federal benefits statutes, including the federal government’s $824 life insurance program.

Linda Coberly’s work relating to the film “Effie Gray” was also featured. Playwright Gregory Murphy had accused screenwriter Emma Thompson of copyright infringement, claiming that her new film was substantially similar to a play he had written about the same historical figures. We defeated Murphy’s claims of infringement in the Second Circuit, obtaining an opinion that reaffirmed that Court’s approach to infringement and paved the way for the film’s release. Describing Ms. Coberly’s oral argument, producer Donald Rosenfeld said: “It was the work of an orchestra versus a pennywhistle.”

The group was also recognized for Mr. Johnson’s representation of Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. in a case that set the standard governing claims that patent suits under the Hatch-Waxman Act, and administrative petitions before the Food and Drug Administration, are anticompetitive actions that violate the antitrust laws.