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In Vault's Practice Area Resource Centers, among other things, we highlight Q&As from various attorneys employed at law firms who have ranked for prestige in the relevant practice area. In this series, we will highlight some answers from attorneys at ranked firms regarding what their typical day is like working in a given practice area. Today, we feature some answers from our Intellectual Property Practice Area Resource Center.
Juan Pablo González, Associate & Daniel Knauss, Partner—Cooley:
Juan Pablo: My practice area primarily focuses on patent, trade secret, and breach of contract disputes and spans a range of disciplines, including medical devices, biotech, and AI, as well as immersive digital technologies and collaborative platforms.
Daniel: I am a trial lawyer with a diverse practice centered on life sciences litigation, primarily in the IP areas of patents and trade secrets but with a healthy mix of business dispute cases as well.
Paul Bondor, Partner & Joze Welsh, Associate—Desmarais:
Paul: Typically, any given day will find me either in my office preparing for the next event, be it trial, a hearing, a meeting, or a deposition (or working with my team on litigation-related documents of all stripes: pleadings, briefs, and written discovery requests or responses) or on the road to get to a hearing or deposition, whether that’s in Delaware, California, Texas, Japan, or Taiwan.
Joze: In patent litigation, I would have to say that there is no truly “typical” day. It is different depending on the case and the stage that it is in. I may, for example, be meeting with a client to learn about their technology, strategizing with colleagues, taking or defending a deposition, writing a brief or other pleading in my office, or preparing for an upcoming trial.
Jessica Kaempf & Joseph Schenck, Partners—Fenwick:
Jessica: There is no typical day in the life of a litigator. My daily activities largely depend on what stage of the litigation life cycle my cases are in. If they are in the early stages, a significant portion of my day involves drafting pleadings and writing briefs, such as motions to dismiss or motions to transfer. As cases progress, my focus shifts to discovery, which includes resolving discovery disputes, writing motions to compel, conducting fact investigations, gathering documents, and working with clients on these tasks. I also spend time conducting depositions or defending them, working with experts to prepare their reports, and preparing for summary judgment, pre-trial, and trial stages. Each stage of litigation brings different tasks, making every day unique.
Joseph: Every day is a balancing act between managing the expected tasks with the unpredictable nature of client needs. While there is a general cadence to larger transactions that lets me know what to expect from a process standpoint, there are always urgent issues from my early-stage clients who may call with real-time risks that they need to manage. Additionally, I work on long-term goals and commercial transactions for our licensing clients, which involves negotiating, drafting, reviewing, and collaborating with team members to make progress on these deals.
Jenine A. Rossington, Senior Associate—Kilpatrick:
Because my practice focuses on national and international trademark enforcement, my tasks involve managing hundreds of trademark enforcement matters in various stages. Daily tasks could include assessing what action, if any, my client should take against a potential infringing third-party mark, contacting a party applying to register a trademark at the USPTO, negotiating with opposing counsel regarding a trade-mark dispute, working with local counsel to draft and revise international trademark oppositions, drafting demand letters, drafting written discovery or engaging in motion practice for a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board opposition, or drafting agreements or letters to formalize the resolution of a dispute.
Yungmoon Chang & Laura Ashley Harris, Partners—Kirkland & Ellis:
Laura Ashley: With litigation, a “typical” day doesn’t really exist. Rather, my day-to-day activities depend mostly on the stage of the case. Prior to filing a complaint, a typical day might involve investigating and strategizing how to build your client’s case as well as documenting available evidence and drafting the complaint itself. During fact discovery, tasks can range from drafting written discovery requests and responses, resolving disputes with opposing counsel, preparing for and taking depositions, and generally building the factual record of the case. Expert discovery involves working closely with experts, assisting with drafting reports, and preparing them for and taking their depositions. Once discovery concludes, dispositive motion practice becomes the focus and involves a lot of legal research and writing. Pre-trial work includes preparing jury instructions, verdict forms, and deposition designations to be played at trial and preparing various other pre-trial materials under the court’s local rules. The life cycle of litigation requires attorneys to be adaptable and develop a variety of skill sets.
Yungmoon: No two days are alike. I could be on the road for a court hearing or a deposition, in which case I might work remotely out of a different Kirkland office or from a hotel conference room with a team or witness. If I’m not traveling, my day could consist of revising motions, strategizing with a team about upcoming discovery deadlines, or collaborating across practice groups to offer input as part of a global strategy. Trial requires court attendance followed by preparation in the evening for the next day of trial. It’s very demanding, but that’s part of the fun.
Ben K. Shiroma, Partner—Knobbe Martens:
One of my favorite parts of my job as a litigator is that my day-to-day changes constantly and no two days are exactly alike. Litigation is a long and varied process. I spend some days with my clients, learning their backgrounds and how they found themselves in litigation. I spend other days discussing my clients’ technologies with leading experts to better understand what a patent term may mean and why my clients’ technologies do or do not meet the claims of an asserted patent. I spend other days resolving discovery disputes with opposing counsel. Finally, if a case gets that far, some of my days (and nights) are spent preparing for trial with my team.
Shannon Reaney, Partner & Quinn Walker, Associate—Morrison Foerster:
Shannon: For me, as the Chair of the patent strategy and prosecution group, no two days are the same. I meet with partners and business professionals supporting our practice to manage the patent group. I guide my team on complex patent matters, offer strategic advice, and stay connected with clients. I also attend industry events and stay active in the community to ensure our group remains engaged, collaborative, and at the forefront of innovation.
Quinn: On a typical day, I am usually handling three or four cases in different stages. I may be drafting a complaint, reviewing discovery, and responding to motions from the other side. I speak with clients, opposing counsel, and our forensics vendors and juggle these calls and meetings with legal writing. I have a lot of work that is filed in court or arbitration and a lot for internal or client-only use. I get to learn from great senior associates and partners and help guide and give feedback for junior associates. All experience levels work together on filings and projects every day, and our teams have super-fun people to hang out with.
Nathan Kelley, Partner—Perkins Coie:
My typical day depends on what stage of a case I’m working on. Appeals are much more compact than full litigations, but they move just as slowly. When I first get a case, there’s always a busy stretch where I dig into the record, looking for anything that might help us build a strong appeal. This involves a lot of reading and trying to get a feel for what went on at trial. Sometimes I’ll spend a full day or more just reading a trial transcript. Other days are spent writing and revising our own briefs, and then much later, I’ll have to learn the case all over again when it comes time to argue it in court. I usually have several appeals moving forward at once, each at a different stage, so sometimes I get to choose which task I want to tackle on any given day.
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