Susman Godfrey

Firm overview:

Litigation boutique Susman Godfrey is adept at taking cases from inception to jury verdict. Its trial lawyers maintain a “relentless focus” on winning and have the technical expertise to present complex subject matter to juries, judges or arbitrators.

The firm exceeded 100 partners for the first time in 2024, electing seven lawyers to its partnership in December while announcing “market-topping bonuses” and “another extremely successful year”.

Team overview:

Trial lawyer Joseph Grinstein, based in Houston, focuses his practice on high-tech litigation. Grinstein won more than $200 million in patent jury verdicts for clients in 2023, including a $166.3 million result for Finesse Wireless against AT&T and Nokia, and a $37.5 million verdict for client Atlas Global Technologies against TP-Link.

John Lahad has also secured major courtroom victories for clients in patent suits, including a $42 million verdict against Boston Scientific for the University of Texas. Lahad says that there is “nothing better than persuading a jury or judge to find in favour of your client” and that the “rush” of that experience drives him to focus on presenting clients’ stories in the most clear and compelling manner possible.

Key matters:

• Netgear v Huawei Technologies, Case No. 2:24-cv-824 AB (AJRx)

Netgear and Huawei filed a joint stipulation to dismiss their ongoing case in California in January 2025. The move followed Netgear’s attempt to prevent Huawei from pursuing injunctions in foreign patent disputes, and a German court ruling that Netgear had infringed Huawei’s Wi-Fi patents. As part of the resolution, Netgear agreed to license certain Huawei patents, ensuring the continuation of its operations in European markets without disruption. Susman Godfrey attorneys Kalpana Srinivasan and Michael Gervais represented Huawei.

• Paltalk v Cisco Systems, Case No. 6:21-cv-00757, US District Court for the Western District of Texas

Susman Godfrey secured a $65.7 million jury verdict for client Paltalk, a global communications software company, in a patent infringement suit against Cisco Systems. Paltalk, a client of the firm for nearly two decades, sued Cisco for infringing a patent related to hybrid audio servers.

Clients:

Huawei, Paltalk.