Brett Schuman > Goodwin > San Francisco, United States > Lawyer Profile

The ‘strategic’ team at Goodwin is well-placed to assist clients with corporate transactions, regulatory matters, and litigation alike. The group’s transactional offering includes company and investor-side transactions such as capital raises and M&A. With regard to regulatory work, the team frequently advises companies, banks, investor funds, and real estate developers on state and federal regulations. On the contentious front, intellectual property disputes, securities litigation investigations and class actions constitute core areas of practice. Leadership of the department is shared by three partners: Jennifer Fisher and Brett Schuman, both based in San Francisco, specialize in litigation, cannabis regulatory and compliance issues; and litigating high-profile intellectual property cases, respectively. In Silicon Valley, Bill Growney‘s broad expertise encompasses financings, M&A, corporate governance, licensing and IP matters. Over in New York, Joshua Eisenson supports the founders and executives of emerging and growth companies in the cannabis segment through all stages of the corporate lifecycle.

The national trade secrets practice at Goodwin, noted for its ‘ability to take the lead’ when assisting clients, has a strong reputation for its capabilities handling the gamut of matters. In San Francisco, Koray Bulut is equipped to handle multi-jurisdictional matters, while co-chair of the firm’s IP litigation practice Brett Schuman has experience defending well-known companies and individual clients in complex disputes; counsel Jeremy Lateiner is also noteworthy. Silicon Valley-based Andrew Ong has expertise in related litigious cases. Also in Silicon Valley is standout name Neel Chatterjee who has impressive experience representing clients in high-stakes tech matters, namely protecting companies and products in complex disputes. Bulut and Ong co-lead the practice alongside New York-based Albert Solecki and Boston’s Mark Tully. The team has been bolstered with the arrivals of Sharon Smith to the San Francisco office in January 2023 from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, and of John Padro, Stefan Mentzer and Scott Weingaertner to the New York office in March 2023 – all were formerly at White & Case LLP.

Goodwin has an expert intellectual property group that is particularly well-connected with clients in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors who rely on the team’s expertise in patent disputes and in Hatch-Waxman litigation for both innovators and generics. The group is jointly led by Brett Schuman in San Francisco, whose patent practice spans multiple industries, and Elaine Blais in Boston, who specializes in patent litigation primarily in the life sciences sector. The group also includes IP trial lawyer Mark Abate in New York, tech litigator Neel Chatterjee in Silicon Valley, and Boston-based Douglas Kline, who works with a broad portfolio of software and pharma companies. The firm’s International Trade Commission team is led by PJ McCarthy in Washington DC. Scott Weingaertner in New York is praised by clients as a ‘great lawyer in the courtroom‘. The group also includes IP specialists Natasha Daughtrey in Los Angeles and Amadou Diaw in Washington DC.