Six Firm Partners Win Law360 2014 MVP Awards

Law360 named six Latham & Watkins partners to its annual list of leading lawyers across practices and industry specialties, including Lawrence Gotts for aerospace and defense; Margaret (Peggy) Zwisler for competition; Ryan Maierson for energy, James Brandt for food and beverage; Patrick Gibbs for securities; and Laurence Stein for tax. According to Law360, “competition for the MVP distinction was fiercer than ever this year, with editors reviewing more than 800 MVP submissions to arrive at the winners.”

• Lawrence Gotts, “a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. office and member of its acclaimed IP pracitce,” notes Law360, has extensive experience representing both patentees and defendants in the litigation and trial of intellectual property disputes, including patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright matters. He recently scored a landmark victory in related defense technology patent infringement cases against the US government brought by client Honeywell Intellectual Properties.
• Peggy Zwisler, a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office, is a skilled trial lawyer with a notable track record of successfully representing antitrust defendants. Over the past year, she has won milestone cases for The London Metal Exchange, Time Warner Cable and Highmark, among other clients. 
• Ryan Maierson, a corporate partner in the Houston office, specializes in corporate transactions in the energy industry, with an emphasis on master limited partnerships (MLPs). Among his recent accomplishments, Maierson is advising Access Midstream Partners in its pending $50 billion merger with Williams Partners.
• James Brandt, a litigation partner in the New York office, is an experienced trial lawyer who focuses on complex litigation involving financial matters. In 2014, his efforts included work on Latham’s successful representation of the American Beverage Association in the high-profile New York soda ban case, including the appeal litigated in the New York State Court of Appeals.
• Patrick Gibbs, a litigation partner in the Silicon Valley office, handles a range of complex business litigation, including securities class actions and antitrust matters. Among his recent accomplishments, he successfully defended former sTec Chief Executive Officer Manouch Moshayedi in a landmark US insider-trading trial brought by the SEC. Following the three-week trial, the jury returned a complete defense verdict. 
• Laurence Stein, a tax partner in the Los Angeles office, has robust transactional tax experience working with a variety of private equity firms, private and public companies and financial institutions. In 2014, he advised the pharmaceutical company Actavis on complex tax aspects related to its US$25 billion acquisition of Forest Labs, among other accomplishments.