WilmerHale Partner Bill Lee was named Law360's "IP MVP" for the third straight year. For three years, Law360 has selected individuals that had the biggest wins and made the most significant contributions to their practice groups in the past year. Mr. Lee had yet another blockbuster year securing his reputation as one of the most successful intellectual property lawyers in the country by obtaining extraordinary results for clients.
Humble as ever, Mr. Lee was quoted in Law360's profile, reporting on the MVP recognition, "Since my first trial in 1977 involved $3,500, I've at least made some progress."
"Making some progress" could not be further understated. Just to name a couple outstanding achievements, in June of this year Mr. Lee was instrumental in obtaining a $2.15 billion settlement for clients Pfizer Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Dating back to the mid-2000's generic drug makers launched versions of brand-name drugs before going through the legal procedure for challenging brand name drugs. Mr. Lee was named Litigation Daily's "Litigator of the Week" for this defeat. Litigation Daily Reporter Jan Wolfe reported that, '"This week William [Bill] Lee of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr showed the generics just how risky that strategy can be."'
It is well-known that Mr. Lee has been one of the key lawyers for Apple in its ongoing patent battles with Samsung. As one example in August this year, explained by Law360, after a team of WilmerHale lawyers from IP Litigation, Antitrust and Competition and International Trade Practices, had prepared a brief to the US Trade Representative Michael Froman, the Obama administration overturned a US International Trade Commission order barring some imports of Apple's iPhone and iPad. This decision by Mr. Froman was the first time the White House has vetoed an ITC exclusion order since 1987.
Earlier this year Mr. Lee was awarded the "Massachusetts Outstanding IP Litigator" recognition by Managing Intellectual Property magazine, included on The National Law Journal's "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America" list, was called out as first-in-class by legal directories such as Managing IP, Chambers and Legal 500, and for the third consecutive year was included on the Boston Business Journal's "Power 50" list. He and WilmerHale's IP Litigation team were named to The National Law Journal's "Intellectual Property Hot List."
Law360's profile detailing some of Mr. Lee's successes from the past year entitled, "IP MVP: WilmerHale's Bill Lee" can be found on their website at www.law360.com.