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Laura A. Wytsma

Partner

Los Angeles

An experienced litigator and tenacious advocate, Laura Wytsma represents clients in high-profile, high-stakes litigation. Laura is recognized by clients and colleagues for her strong oral arguments, unique writing style, creative litigation strategies, and comfort in any courtroom. Her practice focuses on intellectual property (IP) proceedings in federal court, with an emphasis on patent and appellate litigation.

Laura has significant trial experience as lead counsel and excels in presenting complex technology to judges and juries. In addition to her trial skills, she is well respected for her talents at the appellate level. Laura has principally authored dozens of appeal briefs in federal and state courts and argued nine appeals in the Ninth and Federal Circuits and the California Court of Appeal.

Laura began her career in the U.S. Justice Department's (DOJ) Honor Program, where she represented the government in criminal and civil deportation proceedings, advised the U.S. Attorney's Office on immigration issues, and ultimately provided legal guidance to field offices at Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) headquarters.

After leaving the DOJ's Honors Program for civil practice, Laura began working on her first patent case in 1999. The matter, which lasted almost a decade and ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court, greatly influenced her decision to become a patent litigator at a time when few non-technical lawyers and women practiced in the field. Since her initial patent case, Laura has represented clients from around the world in over 50 patent cases in California, DC, Delaware, Illinois, New York, and Texas. One of her prized possessions is the “trial victory bat” Louisville Slugger custom made for Laura after she secured a finding of non-infringement and defended the victory in the Federal Circuit.

Deeply committed to pro bono work, Laura has represented dozens of asylum seekers from around the world. And as an active participant in organizations supporting this work, she has been a recipient of pro bono and community service awards throughout her career.


    • Represented a global industrial company before the Supreme Court in a much-lauded case that erased a decades-old antitrust doctrine impeding businesses from using intellectual property rights to market and sell unpatented products
    • Supervised the defense of the largest advertising and digital communications agencies in the United States in a class action alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
    • Served as co-lead trial counsel in a patent infringement suit involving automotive transmission and intake systems, ultimately securing a finding of willful infringement for her client
    • Defended an international charting and trading software leader against patent infringement claims in a nationally prominent trial
    • Served as lead counsel and successfully defended a prominent sporting goods manufacturing company in a critical patent infringement suit
    • Served as lead counsel in a suit alleging that an online marketplace had induced and contributed to patent infringement by promoting third-party discounted products on its website, successfully securing a dismissal of claims against her client before trial
    • Represented the estate of a famous individual in a series of highly publicized federal lawsuits challenging the individual’s postmortem right of publicity, seeking to cancel trademarks, and alleging infringement of copyrighted images
    • Assisted in defending a billionaire media tycoon in a nationally covered lawsuit challenging his mental competency. In a stunning victory, the team secured dismissal of the suit on the first day of trial based on videotaped testimony from the client
    • As lead counsel, obtained a preliminary injunction against a billion-dollar defense contractor in a trade secret misappropriation case
    • Defended a satellite company against allegations of trade secret misappropriation in a case where the plaintiff dismissed claims with admission that the case had “no merit”

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