The American Lawyer
The American Lawyer
Vol. XXV, No. 1
Copyright 2003 by American Lawyer Media, ALM LLC
January 2003
45 UNDER FORTY-FIVE: THE RISING STARS OF THE PRIVATE BAR
In 1995, The American Lawyer identified the private bar's next generation of
leaders. Now, we look back at them--and ahead to their successors.
The word “elite” comes from an Old French verb meaning “to choose.” In its
modern connotation, the word has also come to stand for high achievement.
Both meanings apply to the special report that follows--the culmination of an
intensive effort by the staff of The American Lawyer to choose 45 of the
highestperforming members of the private bar under the age of 45.
We had help. Many months ago, we contacted all the firms in The Am Law 200
to seek their nominations. We also spun our own Rolodexes, scanned Web sites
and news clippings, and reached out to luminaries within particular practice
areas to solicit their thoughts.
As for criteria, there were a very few. We looked for prodigies who had
already notched a major trial win or complex deal, for those who had
established remarkable records of professional development, for those who
could point to an independent book of business, for those who might have
overcome adversity. We also looked far and wide. It would be possible to
construct a list of 45 young bankruptcy specialists whose accomplishments
were noteworthy (particularly in this market), but we wanted to draw from
many walks of law.
The result, we think, will stand up over time. That was certainly true of
the alumni from our last such effort; their impressive updates appear
throughout the following pages. So, for all you elitists out there, happy
talent scouting.
Lisa Haile, 42
Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, San Diego
To hear her clients tell it, Lisa Haile is fluent in two languages: business and biology.
Haile is the biotechnology patent prosecutor who serves as cohead of Gray Cary's 70-lawyer life sciences group. She started preparing for the role with a half-dozen years in the laboratory, after which she earned a doctorate in immunology and microbiology from Georgetown University School of Medicine. All those years interacting primarily with viruses and proteins, however, gave way to a desire to work with science outside a lab. After graduating from California Western School of Law, she soon landed at the San Diego office of Fish & Richardson, where she wrote up patent applications for up to 50 inventions a year.
Palo Alto's Gray Cary wooed Haile away from Fish & Richardson in 1999. She says she wanted to find partners who were as experienced in business strategy as they were in intellectual property defense. Gray Cary was impressed by her ability to maintain an efficient docket, which has also brought into the firm some truly brainy clients, including the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the California Institute of Technology, as well as the country's largest nonprofit research operation, the Scripps
Research Institute. “I give her some tough situations, and she always gets them taken care of,” says Tom Fitting, chief patent counsel at Scripps. “Sometimes I don't know how she does it.”
Other clients value her extension of such drive to patent strategizing. Linda Yaswen-Corkery, head of business development at Baltimore's Metamorphix, Inc., recently suggested to her fellow executives that they consolidate more work with Gray Cary because of Haile. “We brainstorm with other patent attorneys, and nothing ever comes from that,” says Yaswen-Corkery, “but Lisa is very good at following up.”
“She's the rising star around here,” says Kate Murashige, a veteran patent attorney in Pillsbury Winthrop's San Diego office. Because of Haile's reliability, Murashige refers work to Gray Cary when conflicts prevent her own firm from serving as counsel.
But Haile is not satisfied with the versatility of her practice group. For example, she doesn't have an experienced biotech patent litigator by her side. For those actions, she concedes, “we're not always on the short-list.” Changing that may be easier said than done in one of the country's most competitive biotech legal markets.
One former associate gives her high marks as a mentor. But she can be demanding—only one lawyer who was at the firm when she arrived remains in the practice group. Of course, maintaining high expectations for her team is one way Haile retains her fluency in both biology and business.
1/2003 AMLAW 72
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