Patexia Insight 116: Top Hatch-Waxman Law Firms of 2021
In late August, we released our second annual ANDA Litigation Intelligence Report where we evaluated all stakeholders in Hatch-Waxman cases including ANDA attorneys, local counsel, law firms, pharmaceutical companies, and judges. Today’s insight will focus on revealing some of the best law firms involved in these complex cases and their ranking based on their performance and activity.
The study covered a 4-year period from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2021, where we identified a total of 1,179 ANDA cases, 1,471 ANDA attorneys including 289 local counsels, and 243 law firms. More than 90 percent of all cases were filed in New Jersey and Delaware which made some attorneys and law firms in those states very busy during this period. Similar to last year, we identified the attorneys who mainly acted as local counsel in their states.
During this four-year period, the cases peaked at 350 in 2018, with softer ANDA activity reported in 2019 and 2020 as seen below. 1,208 unique patents were involved in these 1,179 ANDA cases with an average of 1.02 unique patents per case. Since the years 2017 and 2021 were partial (shown in brighter colors below), we further examined the monthly activity. The average number of ANDA cases filed per month over the period covered were: 26.7, 29.2, 25.0, 22.3, and 17.0 from 2017 to 2021 respectively, reflecting an accelerating decline in recent years.
Despite this decline in filing activity which was covered previously in Patexia Insight 112, ANDA cases represent a very popular and profitable area of IP litigation which makes the publication of this report even more important. In fact, our recruiting team is working with several national and international firms, interested in adding Hatch-Waxman litigation to their IP practice.
Our effort in evaluating the stakeholders in these cases helps many law firms distinguish themselves in this important space and also offers valuable insight to pharmaceutical companies (generic and brand) that always look for the best counsel to help them with their next Hatch-Waxman case. The complete ANDA Litigation Intelligence 2021 report covers 116 judges, 364 companies as well as the 1,471 ANDA attorneys and 243 law firms. It is available to all Patexia Concierge members but can also be separately purchased on the Patexia website.
To create a model and generate the rankings for each type of participant in ANDA cases, we used the feedback we received from the ANDA community. Out of the 1,179 ANDA cases filed from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2020, a total of 781 had concluded with a decision status listed in PACER as of July 25, 2021, which served as the input for the performance evaluation. To calculate and allocate winning points for different stakeholders, we asked a simple question: Does the outcome (Judgment) of the case (whether by consent order or court trial) leave the Defendant better off than they would otherwise have been under the terms of the HWA alone? Summarized below are the official PACER outcome classifications and the score applied:
| Outcome | Plaintiff | Defendant | Plain. Atty/Firm | Def. Atty/Firm | Judge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Judgment - Defendant Wins |
0 |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Judgment - Plaintiff Wins | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Judgment - Settled | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | - |
| Judgment - Consolidated | - | - | -- | - | - |
| Judgment - Outcome Pending | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dismissed - Settled | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | - |
| Dismissed - Voluntarily | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dismissed - Other | - | - | - | - | - |
| Transfer/Remand - MDL Transfer | - | - | - | - | - |
| Statistical Closing | - | - | - | - | - |
| Non-reportable closing |
- |
- | - | - | - |
As for the law firms, the ANDA Litigation Intelligence Report provides a complete list of them with all of their activity, success, and performance metrics broken out by their roles as representing either Plaintiff or Defendant, or Overall (combined). As mentioned earlier, more than 90 percent of all cases have been filed in either Delaware or New Jersey District Courts, so we decided to dedicate a separate section to local counsel and rank them based on their activity.
Here is the list of the law firms who made it to the top for 2021 in no particular order:
- Locke Lord gets the first place as the Best Performing firm for representing defendants in Hatch-Waxman cases. With a total of 49 ANDA cases including 45 cases on the defendant’s side, the firm is also ranked the second most active firm for representing generic pharmaceutical companies. Cadila Healthcare is the firm’s top ANDA client.
- Quinn Emanuel with 102 out of 102 Hatch-Waxman cases on the brand side, specializes in representing brand pharmaceutical companies. The firm is ranked the second most active and the 3rd best performing overall and for representing plaintiffs in ANDA cases. Bristol Myers Squibb is the firm’s top ANDA client.
- Katten Muchin Rosenman has represented defendants in 35 out of its 42 Hatch-Waxman cases. The firm is ranked the 5th most active and the 6th best performing for representing the generic pharmaceutical companies. Overall the firm is ranked the 17th best performing for Hatch-Waxman litigation. The firm has several key ANDA clients including Viatris Inc. and Apotex Pharmaceutical.
- Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider with 14 out of a total of 16 ANDA cases on the defendant side, is the 17th most active and the 13th best performing for representing generic pharma companies.
- Perkins Coie for the second year in a row was ranked as one of the most active firms for representing generic pharma companies. The firm ranked the 33rd by activity on the defendant’s side. The firm has been active in many areas of IP and their name comes up in almost all of our IP reports among the top IP firms.
- Alston & Bird with a total of 8 cases ranked the 46th best performing firm for representing plaintiffs (brand pharma). The firm is ranked in all 6 categories among the top 100 firms.
- Polsinelli with a total of 7 ANDA cases and 5 on the defendant side, was ranked the 41st most active firm for representing generic pharma companies.
- Greenberg Traurig with 13 cases all on the defendant side, is specialized in representing generic pharma companies. The firm is ranked the 21st most active on the defendant’s side. The firm is also ranked the 50th best performing for representing the generic pharmaceutical companies. Teva Pharmaceuticals is the firm’s number one client.
- Husch Blackwell is mainly active on the defendant’s side. With a total of 8 Hatch-Waxman cases, the firm was ranked the 31st for activity and the 23rd for performance for representing generic pharmaceutical companies.
- Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison focuses only on representing brand pharmaceutical companies. With a total of 16 ANDA cases, the firm was ranked 19th most active for representing plaintiffs. Vanda Pharmaceuticals is their number one client.
- Carlson Caspers Vandenburgh & Lindquist, PA represented defendants in 13 cases and earned its position as the 15th best performing and the 21st most active firm for representing generic pharmaceutical companies. The firm has multiple key clients including Sun Pharmaceuticals.
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati with a total of 26 Hatch-Waxman cases, is the 22nd most active firm overall and represents both brand and generic pharmaceutical companies. The firm was ranked the 13th best performing for representing generic pharmaceutical companies.
- Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga with a total of 67 ANDA cases, is one of the most active Hatch-Waxman local counsels. The firm is located in the state of New Jersey and was ranked the 6th and the 10th most active local counsel for representing plaintiffs and defendants, respectively.
Stay tuned as we plan to continue covering the ANDA litigation by identifying some of the top ANDA attorneys for 2021 as well as a similar coverage for the top attorneys and law firms for IPR.
Note: A version of this article appeared on IP Watchdog