Mr Michael De Vries > Kirkland & Ellis LLP > San Francisco, United States > Lawyer Profile
Kirkland & Ellis LLP Offices
555 CALIFORNIA STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104
CALIFORNIA
United States
- Firm Profile
- Go to...
Mr Michael De Vries
Position
Michael De Vries is a nationally recognized IP trial lawyer with substantial success representing plaintiffs in high-stakes intellectual property trials. He has served as lead counsel in numerous patent and other intellectual property-related matters. Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business has described him as “phenomenal at managing a case, but also phenomenal in a court,” as well as “experienced counsel for the handling of misuse of trade secrets allegations.”
Since 2018, Mike has secured over $2.5 billion in plaintiff jury verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients in IP litigations, including over $1.8 billion in five straight plaintiff jury verdicts in favor of his clients since September 2019: a $855 million jury verdict in October 2020 on behalf of Cognizant against a competitor in a trade secret and copyright case; a $765 million jury verdict in February 2020 on behalf of Motorola Solutions in a trade secret case against a competitor, Hytera; a $125 million jury verdict in September 2019 on behalf of EagleView Technologies in a patent case against a competitor; a $40 million jury verdict in March 2022 on behalf of Comet Technologies in a trade secret case against a competitor; and a $30 million jury verdict in June 2021 on behalf of LivePerson in a trade secret case against a competitor. These verdicts received extensive media coverage including The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg Law, and Mike was awarded The Am Law Litigation Daily’s “Litigator of the Week” feature multiple times for these victories in the last two years. In March 2022, The American Lawyer featured Mike’s years-long jury trial win streak in an article entitled “All They Do Is Win, Win, Win: Dissecting a Trial Hot Streak.”
Named Law360’s “Trial MVP of the Year” in both 2020 and 2021 for his lead trial counsel work on IP litigation matters, Mike is a member of the Kirkland practices recognized as Law360 2020 “Practice Groups of the Year” for Intellectual Property and Trials. The Daily Journal named Mike to its 2010, 2014 and 2018–2023 lists of “Top Intellectual Property Lawyers” and its 2020–2022 lists of “Top Trade Secrets Lawyers,” and recognized Mike and his team in “The 2019 CLAY Awards: Intellectual Property” for their successful representation of Cisco in its long-running IP battle: Cisco Systems Inc. v. Arista Networks Inc. Mike was also named one of the Daily Journal’s “Top 75 IP Litigators in California” in 2010, 2014 and 2018–2021, and was featured among the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2020 “Most Influential People in Los Angeles” and a “Top Litigator in Los Angeles” in 2018, 2020 and 2021. Additionally, he was a recipient of the 2020 “California Trailblazers” award from The Recorder. The 2012 and 2015–2022 editions of The Legal 500 U.S. recommend Mike for his work on the Firm’s Tier 1 Patent Litigation team, noting that Mike is “a key figure” in the Firm’s patent practice, and in the 2020–2022 editions, Mike is featured as a “Leading Lawyer.”
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
The intellectual property practice at Kirkland & Ellis LLP has extensive experience representing clients across the country in front of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the International Trade Commission, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The team maintains a focus on trial strategy from the beginning to the end of a case, regularly protecting clients’ IP interests at the appellate level, and acts on precedent-setting cases for high-profile cases. Adam Alper is a notable member of the team, acting out of the team’s San Francisco office. Based in Los Angeles, Michael De Vries is another key name, with experience representing clients in a wide range of high-value intellectual property-related matters. Gregory Arovas and Gregg LoCascio are both key names in the group; the former, the practice head out of the New York office, and the latter, a leader of the Washington DC office.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Advertising and marketing: litigation
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- International Trade > CFIUS
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Government > Government relations
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Energy > Energy litigation: oil and gas
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Tax > International tax
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Shareholder activism
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: litigation
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
Firm Rankings
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Environment > Environment: litigation
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: automotive/transport
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Finance > Project finance
- Real estate > Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Government > State attorneys general
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Dispute resolution > E-discovery
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Insurance > Insurance: non-contentious
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Energy > Energy regulation: oil and gas
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional
- Real estate > Construction (including construction litigation)
- International Trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds