Supreme Court & Appellate

We have won awards and recognition from publications such as the Financial Times, which recognized Orrick among North America’s top ten most innovative law firms in 2014. That same year, we took FT's #1 spot in a ranking of “innovation in litigation” for our work in Oracle v. Google. Our work for Kleiner Perkins, Oracle, and DISH Network was recognized when The American Lawyer named Orrick the 2016 “Intellectual Property Litigation Department of the Year” and a finalist for “Litigation Department of the Year.” Our successes on behalf of Oracle and DISH Network were also highlighted in our 2015 “Appellate Hot List” ranking by The National Law Journal — our fourth time being named to the list. Additionally, Orrick is recognized as a leading appellate practice by two globally-recognized legal directories — Chambers USA (2014-2018) and The Legal 500 US (2011-2018). We recruit top talent from the Department of Justice, legal academia, other appellate practices, and the most prestigious clerkships in the country — including more than a dozen clerks from the Supreme Court alone. We have established ourselves as a marquee practice with "a deep bench, diverse cases, high-profile clients and a presence in the nation’s highest court."

Equally rooted in the appellate capital of Washington, D.C., the Bay Area’s technology hub, and the financial center of New York City, we have become a destination for bet-the-company and industry-changing appeals. We represent clients ranging from Microsoft, DISH Network, and Oracle to JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and everything in between. And we win — sometimes against all odds. We saved DISH Network from a life-threatening injunction, brokerage firms from crushing liability, and Bratz from Barbie. We represented Oracle against Google in the "World Series of copyright cases." We saved the multi-billion dollar market in imported copyrighted goods. The reasons are simple:

We treat you like you are our only client.

Clients turn to us when they simply have to win an appeal. It’s more than just our track record. It’s our philosophy of devoting the utmost attention to every matter. When we represented a Silicon Valley stalwart in a case involving its computer code, we met with its programmers to understand its technology inside and out. When we defended a law allowing the police to inspect hotel guest registries, we not only uncovered the medieval history of regulating innkeepers, we rode along with the vice squad to witness firsthand just why the inspections are so important. Our clients know that their cause is ours.

Winning prose and innovative arguments

We have a distinctive writing style that grabs judges from word one and keeps them reading, a knack for conveying our position as plain common sense, and persuasive oral arguments meticulously prepared and passionately delivered. Chambers USA 2016 describes the mix as the "perfect combination of persuasiveness, intelligence, wit and deference" that it takes to "mastermind" unlikely victories. In 2017, Chambers USA notes that we're a "high-caliber practice group with an excellent track record in high-stakes and high-value corporate disputes, drawing from a strong team of well-regarded appellate attorneys" with "notable strengths in technology and financial services litigation, including deep experience in IP matters."

Innovative strategies are our calling card. You almost never see an appellate brief that starts with an allegory. And how often does your opponent say that your brief reads like an engineer’s action adventure? When the satellite industry was besieged by discriminatory taxes in state legislatures around the country, we transformed an appellate strategy into a legislative strategy that defeated 53 of 54 bills introduced by competitors. It’s strategies like this that caused Financial Times to rank Orrick and our appellate group among the most innovative in the country.<

Collaboration with clients and co-counsel

Clients come back again and again because we treat them — and the lawyers who lived with the case until appeal — like full partners. We take the time to learn what each case means to our clients’ businesses, and we give voice to their passion and concerns. It matters to us that other lawyers turn to us and that our competitors bring us in as co-counsel. We form close partnerships with our clients and their lawyers and, as a result, are often called upon early in cases to evaluate claims and defenses, develop legal strategy, and provide strategic guidance.