Jonathan H. Steinberg Joins IP Law Firm Lowenstein & Weatherwax LLP
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) March 18, 2016 -- Lowenstein & Weatherwax LLP announced today that former Irell & Manella LLP partner Jonathan H. Steinberg has joined the firm where he will be of counsel. Mr. Steinberg practiced at Irell & Manella LLP for over 30 years, where his nationally recognized practice focused on intellectual property, constitutional law, political law, and business litigation.
Chambers and Partners’ USA Guide to Leading Lawyers has lauded Mr. Steinberg’s work, noting his “amazing ability to immediately get to the heart of an issue,” his “world class judgment” and his “powerful courtroom style.” The Legal 500 described him as “a key attorney for hi-tech patent litigation” and The Best Lawyers in America has consistently recognized him as a leading lawyer.
“Having worked with Jonathan for years and experienced his creativity and judgment firsthand, we are honored to have him join us at L&W,” said partner Nathan Lowenstein. “Jonathan’s success is notable not just in intellectual property law, but in election law and other challenging areas of practice,” added partner Kenneth Weatherwax. “Few lawyers earn the kind of accolades Jonathan has in such diverse areas.”
Mr. Steinberg’s legal career was launched early when, as a second year associate, he argued successfully in the California Supreme Court behalf of 28 Members of Congress in a precedent-setting Congressional redistricting case (Legislature of the State of California, et al. v. George Deukmejian, et al., 34 Cal. 3d 658 (1983)). At that time, The National Law Journal termed him a “big gun.” Over the ensuing decades, Mr. Steinberg went on to successfully represent Members of Congress, the Los Angeles City Council, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and the Senate of the State of California before three judge district court panels and on appeal to the United States Supreme Court, resulting in two additional Supreme Court affirmances. Former Los Angeles County Supervisor and City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky commented: “His representation was nothing short of brilliant, and his stewardship in navigating the City Council and Board of Supervisors through the thicket of election law was extraordinary skillful.”
In intellectual property matters, Mr. Steinberg defeated several patent infringement claims asserted against Paramount and Lucas Digital and Industrial Light & Magic over the special effects used in Forrest Gump (Bloomstein v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20839 (N.D. Cal. 1998) aff’d, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 21391 (Fed. Cir. 1999)), Star Wars Episode 1 and Episode 2 (Bloomstein v. Lucasfilm Ltd. et al., 3:02-cv-02649 (N.D. Cal. 2002)). He successfully represented Intel in a variety of matters, including a concerted trademark challenge to Intel’s “MMX Technology.” In securities law, he served as counsel for the firm of Hughes, Hubbard and Reed in its defense against claims growing out of the demise of ZZZZ Best (In Re ZZZZ Best Securities Litigation, 864 F.Supp. 960 (N.D. Cal. 1994)). Mr. Steinberg has represented a broad range of technology leaders including Western Digital, Novellus, Industrial Light and Magic, St. Jude Medical, Tessera and many others.
Mr. Steinberg has also been active as a lawyer-scholar. He is the co-author of a leading law review article on partisan gerrymandering, which was cited and quoted by four different justices in the United States Supreme Court’s most recent decision on the subject (Vieth v. Jubelirer, 541 US 267, 289 (2004), citing Daniel H. Lowenstein & Jonathan Steinberg, The Quest for Legislative Districting in the Public Interest: Elusive or Illusory? 33 UCLA L. REV. 1 (1985)). Stanford political science professor Bruce Cain commented: “Steinberg uniquely brings the perspectives of a pioneering practitioner and scholar to the complicated and often messy business of political law and redistricting.”
In intellectual property, Mr. Steinberg was a member of the founding board of the USC Intellectual Property Institute, has been an invited speaker at the national ABA Section of Intellectual Property and in Practicing Law Institute programs, and has authored articles and lectures on emerging issues in technology law.
Mr. Steinberg is also a classical musician, albeit one whose musical skills are dwarfed by his enthusiasm. For over a decade, he has served as the chairman of the board of iPalpiti Artists International, which sponsors classical music festivals that feature emerging classical artists from around the globe.
“I’ve worked with Ken and Nathan for many years, and know them both to be terrifically talented and singularly committed to the needs of their clients. The boutique practice they are building will afford me and prospective clients opportunities that would be hard to replicate in a Big Law context,” said Mr. Steinberg. “I hope to live up to the standard set by my remarkable mentors at Irell & Manella, for whom support and guidance of the next generation of lawyers was an essential element of the practice of law.”
Lowenstein & Weatherwax LLP is an intellectual property boutique located in Century City, California. In its first four years, L&W has handled over 50 IPRs/CBMs before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board, has litigated three U.S. Supreme Court patent matters, including one argued before the Court, and has litigated numerous patent litigations in federal District Courts.
Kathy Young-Murphy, Lowenstein & Weatherwax.LLP, http://lowensteinweatherwax.com, +1 (310) 307-4500, [email protected]
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