The National Law Journal named WilmerHale to its 2014 Appellate Hot List. The annual list honors 20 firms with significant appellate achievements within the year and a strong track record overall. This marks the seventh consecutive year that WilmerHale has been included in the listing.
The journal's profile on WilmerHale highlights a number of the firm's recent Supreme Court Victories including POM Wonderful v. Coca-Cola, Hall v. Florida, and Clark v. Rameker. Led by Partner and former Solicitor General of the United States Seth Waxman, the firm's appellate bench is described by the journal as "broad, deep and successful."
In the last term the group had seven cases in the Supreme Court and last year 24 attorneys made 42 arguments in 14 federal and state courts. The journal quoted Partner Danielle Spinelli saying, "We've had a deep bench for a while, but I hope that is becoming more widely known." WilmerHale's appellate group has been specifically active in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which, as stated by the journal, is "a reflection of the firm's robust intellectual property practice."
In broader terms, the firm's appellate lawyers have argued more than 115 cases before the Supreme Court, including leading cases in areas of antitrust, bankruptcy, communications, constitutional law, employment, energy regulation, federal preemption and tax. The group continues to grow to meet the needs of clients and most recently in September, Partner and former acting president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Educational Fund Debo Adegbile joined.
Spinelli, an experienced litigator and appellate advocate, explained to the journal that, "Although all of us consider ourselves generalists, many of us have areas of substantive expertise and this is an example where we have a high degree of substantive expertise as well as appellate skills."
The full 2014 Appellate Hot List can be viewed on The National Law Journal's website.