Notable Successes

Gabrielle E. Higgins

Desmarais LLP is pleased to announce that Gabrielle “Gaby” Higgins has joined the firm as a partner in its San Francisco office. Ms. Higgins is both a talented district court trial lawyer and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) practitioner who has been counsel of record in more than 130 inter partes review (IPR) proceedings and will play a key role in growing the firm’s PTAB Practice inside its expanding West Coast office. 
 
Ms. Higgins, who started April 1, 2021, is the firm’s first lateral partner hire to join the San Francisco office since it opened in June 2019. She was previously a partner at Ropes & Gray in its Intellectual Property Litigation Practice. She has more than 30 years of patent litigation experience and has secured victories for leading tech companies, including Apple, Google and Samsung, before the PTAB, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and in the federal district courts. 
 
“We’re thrilled that Gaby is joining the firm. Her depth of experience will strengthen our presence on the West Coast and her PTAB work is an ideal complement to one of the firm’s key focus areas,” said John Desmarais, founding partner of Desmarais LLP. “I’ve known Gaby since we started our legal careers at the same office in New York City more than three decades ago. She is a consummate professional, a talented intellectual property practitioner, and a superb courtroom lawyer.”
 
In 2020, Desmarais LLP began an initiative to build out its PTAB Practice, adding Dr. Yung-Hoon (Sam) Ha to oversee the group and grow the practice. By the end of the year, it ranked as the 12th most active firm in the industry before the PTAB with more than 50 proceedings filed during 2020, according to Managing IP.
 
“I’m excited to be part of the Desmarais LLP team. The firm has distinguished itself as the go-to source for patent litigation in the industry,” Ms. Higgins said. “I look forward to further developing my practice here, building on the firm’s momentum in its PTAB practice, and enhancing its reputation in the industry for exceptional trial work.”
 
Ms. Higgins has focused her practice on tech-related patent disputes in federal court and before the International Trade Commission, in addition to her extensive work before the PTAB. She represents clients in cases involving a wide array of technologies, including telecommunications, electronics, semiconductors, wireless technology, internet services, network architecture and security, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals.
 
During her career, Ms. Higgins has earned numerous recognitions as a leading patent litigator, including being named to The Daily Journal’s “Top IP Litigators in California,” The Recorder’s “50 Women Leaders in Tech Law,” Managing IP’s “IP Stars,” and the PTAB Bar Association’s “Top 50 Women in PTAB Trials.” She received her law degree from Fordham University in 1989 and her bachelor’s degree from College of the Holy Cross in 1985.

The Recorder – “Desmarais Hires First San Francisco Lateral Partner Since Opening Office”
Reuters – “Desmarais adds first Bay Area lateral partner, tapping Big Tech litigator from Ropes & Gray”
Law360 – “Desmarais Taps Ex-Ropes & Gray Patent Atty In San Francisco” (subscription required)


 

Gabrielle E. Higgins