Three Law School alumni included in National Law Journal's "40 Under 40"

Three Law School alumni included in  National Law Journal's "40 Under 40"

Michael Desanctis '95, Christine Lehman '93, and Paul Schmidt '98 are among the "40 Under 40," the 40 Washington, D.C.-area lawyers under the age of 40 chosen by the National Law Journal for the major roles they are playing in the legal community of the nation's capital. The attorneys on the list were selected by the paper's editors based on nominations and reporting.

Desanctis is the managing partner of Jenner & Block's Washington, D.C. office. He was lead counsel for SoundExchange in the 2007 Copyright Royalty Board trial that resulted in dramatically increased royalties for record companies and recording artists for music played on satellite radio. He now represents Viacom in its copyright infringement suit against Google and YouTube.

Lehman, a partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, litigates patents before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). She was a member of the trial team that defended Toyota against claims that its hybrid vehicles infringed on patents owned by Solomon Technologies. "The ITC is not like any other forum," Lehman told NLJ. "After 13 or 14 years of doing this, I like to think I can offer clients a depth of experience that they wouldn't find elsewhere."

Schmidt is a partner in Covington & Burlington's litigation group with a particular emphasis in pharmaceutical and other products liability litigation and counseling. With an impressive 6-1 record in the appellate cases that he has personally argued, Schmidt shared the secret to his success with NLJ. "It's just being very prepared and trying to frame the arguments in the right way, where you're not reaching for too much." He most recently won an appeal for the pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann La Roche in a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Posted on July 20, 2009