Pro Bono Effort Helps Planned Parenthood Prevail in Major Abortion Rights Test in Kentucky

October.02.2018

An Orrick trial team obtained an important win on behalf of Planned Parenthood in Kentucky, where a federal district court judge has invalidated a statewide law that would have closed the last abortion clinic operating in Kentucky. The decision sided entirely with Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) and the EMW Women’s Surgical Center, who argued that the law was unconstitutional and jeopardized access to safe and legal abortion services in Kentucky.

Planned Parenthood’s case arose after Kentucky state officials invoked an obscure regulation to argue that Planned Parenthood’s licensure application was deficient after previously indicating to Planned Parenthood that its application was in order. Around the same time, Kentucky state officials threatened to revoke EMW’s license on the basis of the same regulation used to deny Planned Parenthood’s application, alleging the clinic’s agreements with a hospital and ambulance service contained technical deficiencies despite having approved the same agreements in 2016.

Representing PPINK pro bono, an Orrick team led by partners Karen Johnson-McKewan, Lisa Simpson and associate Rob Uriarte collaborated with EMW counsel Don Cox and Brigitte Amiri with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project to challenge the Kentucky regulations as a clear effort to undermine women’s right to abortion in Kentucky. The Kentucky case has attracted national attention as numerous states around the country have tried to erode access to abortion services, and the litigation was considered a key legal test for challenges to those efforts.

U.S. District Judge Greg Stivers conducted a three-day bench trial in the case in September 2017, with Orrick’s trial team playing a central role. In a 60-page ruling, the judge found Kentucky’s regulations unenforceable, both facially and as applied, concluding they violate due process protections. The judge issued a permanent injunction blocking enforcement of the regulation.

“PPINK praises today’s decisions and looks forward to expanding abortion access soon,” said Christine Gillespie, President and CEO of PPINK. “This is a victory for the many patients we see every day. For them, safe, legal abortion isn’t a matter of ideology or politics. It is necessary health care that allows them to live their fullest lives.”

In addition to Karen, Lisa and Rob, the Orrick trial team included associates Kayvan Ghaffari, Easha Anand and former associate Anjali Dalal.

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Karen G. Johnson-McKewan Partner

San Francisco

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D:+1 415 773 5917
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Technology & Innovation Sector

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Karen G. Johnson-McKewan Partner

San Francisco

Karen focuses on litigation that crosses the boundaries between traditional legal practices, and therefore requires inventive and strategic approaches. These solutions, tucked in the creases between law and industry, are why leading technology and Fortune 500 companies hire Karen to resolve their most complex litigation matters.

Over the past 36 years, Karen has first-chaired state and federal trials, and arbitrated more than a dozen disputes. She has managed intellectual property and commercial disputes for companies such as Oracle, NVIDIA, Netflix and VMWare.

In addition to her legal background, Karen’s relationship management skills give her clients a significant advantage. She knows how to pull together and lead the best team, from multiple disciplines within Orrick, and often involving multiple law firms. Able to unite what were, and will be, competing firms into a single powerful unit takes a special type of leadership, one which Karen has demonstrated time and again.

Lisa T. Simpson Partner, Intellectual Property, Trademark, Copyright & Media

New York

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D:+1 212 506 3767
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Technology & Innovation Sector
Life Sciences Sector
Intellectual Property
Trademark, Copyright & Media
Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Mass Torts & Product Liability

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Lisa T. Simpson Partner

New York

Lisa has been recognized as one of the "Top 250 Women in IP" by Managing Intellectual Property and has received accolades from American Lawyer, Benchmark Litigation, The Legal 500 USA and New York Times Magazine with World Trademark Review 1000 noting that Lisa “marries a rich comprehension of IP law with a gift for connecting with people, making full use of each advantage in the courtroom.” Lisa was recently named to Lawdragon's 500 Leading Litigators in America list.

Trial Experience

Lisa has served as trial counsel across a wide range of matters. She recently served as co-lead trial counsel in a case in Delaware Chancery Court in a dispute over corporate control and ownership. She is currently serving as lead trial counsel in an energy distribution contract and rate dispute in North Dakota. Lisa also served as trial counsel for Oracle in its dispute with Google over the Java APIs in Android phones in the Northern District of California and served as trial counsel in a matter involving the trade dress of a hip implant medical device in the District of Colorado. Lisa has also served as trial counsel in a number of product liability matters involving allegations concerning talc, analgesics and herbicides.

Intellectual Property

Lisa handles a variety of high-profile trademark, trade secret, and copyright matters. Lisa’s copyright experience includes some of the leading copyright cases of the past decade: she represented Oracle in its litigation with Google over the Java APIs, represented DISH Networks, LCC in its copyright litigation with the broadcast networks over various features offered by DISH’s Hopper DVR, including AutoHop and Sling and served as counsel to Supap Kirtsaeng before the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of the copyright first sale doctrine’s applicability to goods manufactured abroad.

Lisa’s trademark and trade secret litigation has spanned a variety of courts and industries: she successfully defended trademark infringement claims in the Northern District of California on behalf of Sony over its popular “Gran Turismo” racing video game and scored two separate wins in the Southern District of New York and then in the Second Circuit on behalf of client Sanei in trademark litigation brought by fashion designer Jill Stuart. Lisa also successful established secondary meaning and secured a preliminary injunction for the New York City Triathlon in S.D.N.Y. Lisa also represented a major pharmaceutical and healthcare company in trade secrets litigation concerning multi-payor coordination of prescription drug benefits loyalty cards.

Products Liability and Consumer Class Action

Lisa serves as counsel to Johnson & Johnson, Chanel, and Avon in cases asserting claims arising from the use of its talcum powder products, including claims of mesothelioma and ovarian cancer. She also represented Wyeth and Dow Agrosciences in a variety of complex products liability and consumer class action litigations. Lisa served as counsel in hundreds of product liability matters concerning injuries allegedly associated with childhood vaccines, handled litigations involving the labeling and advertising of Advil, and obtained the dismissal, prior to class certification, of a consumer class action in a matter concerning the calcium supplement Caltrate.

Current Pro Bono Representation

Lisa served as trial counsel for Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, securing an important trial win invalidating as unconstitutional a statewide law that jeopardized access to safe and legal abortion services in Kentucky.
Lisa also has served in a variety of firm management roles, including on the Firm’s Management Committee, as Hiring Partner for the New York office as well as Partner-in-Charge of Firmwide Campus Recruiting and as a member of the Professional Development Committee.