A Fresh Batch of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs
Partners John O’Quinn and Michael Slade were recognized as runners-up for The American Lawyer Litigation Daily’s “Litigator of the Week” contest for their work with Intelsat. Partners Leslie Schmidt, Adam Alper and Mike De Vries also received a shout out for their work with Comet Technologies.
... Runners-up honors also go to a team at Kirkland & Ellis led by John O’Quinn and Michael Slade that helped Intelsat prevail over fellow satellite company SES Americom in a dispute over billions in federal payments for giving up access to certain radiofrequency spectrum that the FCC plans to repurpose for 5G mobile technology. After a seven-day bench trial, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Keith Phillips in Richmond, Virginia, last week turned back the remaining $421 million in claims brought by SES based on the companies’ agreement to collectively auction the spectrum to 5G users. The FCC ultimately rejected the “market-based” approach for a public auction. The bankruptcy judge found the prior agreement did not apply after the FCC adopted its approach. “Intelsat is entitled to a larger acceleration payment than SES because Intelsat is making a significantly larger contribution to the repurposing than SES,” Phillips wrote.
... Shout out to the Kirkland & Ellis team that previously landed top runners-up honors back in March for landing a $40 million verdict for client Comet in a case where a federal jury in San Jose, California, found that rival XP Power “willfully and maliciously” stole trade secrets related to a radio-frequency power generator and RF matching network. Last week U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins granted Comet’s request for a permanent injunction, permanently barring XP from using the Comet trade secret technology. “Comet’s theory of the case, which was apparently credited by the jury, implicates much of XP’s leadership team, not just a few bad apples, making a company-wide injunction appropriate and not unduly harmful,” Cousins wrote. The Kirkland team representing Comet includes Leslie Schmidt, Adam Alper and Mike De Vries.
