By Nate Raymond
IP Law & Business/January 2008

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A cult of personality surrounds Irell & Manella's top IP litigator, Morgan Chu. The firm's marketing pitches start with photos of Chu as an associate, wearing his trademark (not registered) bow tie when he won his (and the firm's) first patent trial in 1979. His name appears first on nearly every IP-related docket the firm touches. Other IP teams commonly list Chu, 58, as a go-to lawyer when they're conflicted out of matters.

It's easy to see why. Led by Chu, Irell's IP practice is on a roll. The firm has scored at least $325 million in verdicts and settlements since January 2006, with more in confidential settlements. That's an awesome total for a firm that has only two offices-both in Southern California-and 30 IP partners. "If you look at the past year, it's been an unbelievable number of wins that any firm would be proud to have," says partner Laura Brill, who worked on Immersion Corporation's $127 million patent win against Sony Corporation.

Chu says his firm turns away many cases in part because of its small size. "For the great bulk of our work, it tends to be important cases for our clients," Chu says. "If not 'bet your company,' then at least important cases." It doesn't hurt that clients are less fee-sensitive when their company is on the line.

David-versus-Goliath stories-pitting small companies like 140-employee Immersion against giants like Sony-appeal to Chu. He "likes to pick the underdog," says Laura Peter, the general counsel at Immersion, which sued Sony for infringing its patents for technology that lets a handheld game control vibrate in sync with on-screen action.

Irell's biggest recent underdog victory came in TiVo v. EchoStar, in which a jury told EchoStar Communications Corporation to pay TiVo Inc. $73.9 million for infringing technology that allows users to pause live television programming and record it for later viewing. Chu led a four-partner team against EchoStar counsel Morrison & Foerster at trial. The award climbed to $94 million through interest and supplemental damages. When EchoStar appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, TiVo retained Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr's Seth Waxman for the oral arguments. But Matthew Zinn, general counsel for TiVo, says he hired Wilmer not to replace Irell, which remained involved on appeal, but as a precaution. "There's a danger that you can fall in love with your own arguments," he says. A ruling is pending.

Other Irell wins: At the Federal Circuit, Irell prevailed for ASML Holdings N.V., which had been sued by Ultratech, Inc., for allegedly infringing a photolithography patent. Irell also won a major settlement for Tessera Technologies, Inc., which had sued computer chip manufacturers Micron Technology, Inc., and Infineon Technologies AG for infringing its patent for semiconductor packaging that protects chips from contamination. Micron and Infineon agreed to pay $30 million and $50 million, respectively, and to pay royalties.

The legitimate question, of course, is whether Irell is too much a one-man show. Irell says it has ten IP partners with first-chair experience, but the firm heralds only one major recent victory without Chu at the lead: Gary Frischling's summary judgment win for Texas Instruments Incorporated in February against Microprocessor Enhancement Corporation. Kirkland & Ellis's John Desmarais says he avoids referring his conflict work to Chu because his caseload looks too heavy. "He really can't be on every case," he says.

Chu is well aware of the criticism. Irell is training young lawyers, even winning praise recently from a federal district court judge for letting associates question witnesses in a trade secret trial. But it's hard so far to argue with the assessment of Chu by young Irell partner Andrei Iancu: "He is in a class of one."

Irell & Manella
Practice group size: 83
Partners: 30
Counsel: 4
Associates: 49
Practice group as percent of firm: 40%
Estimated percentof firm revenue 2007: 50%

On the docket: Irell & Manella is representing Universal Music Group in its copyright infringment suit against News Corp.'s MySpace. The firm also represents City of Hope National Medical Center in a patent license dispute, and eBay Inc. subsidiaries Skype Technologies and PayPal in patent disputes in Texas, New Jersey, and Wisconsin.