Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, INDUSTRY NEWS: Antitrust litigator Michelle Friedland nominated to serve on Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, (Aug 5, 2013)

Michelle T. Friedland, currently a partner in the San Francisco office of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, has been nominated to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Friedland has focused her practice on antitrust litigation, appellate matters, and constitutional and academic affairs litigation for higher education institutions. She has litigated cases before state and federal trial and appellate courts, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. Her litigation before the Supreme Court has included her representation of Solvay Pharmaceuticals as respondent in FTC v. Actavis, Inc., a case concerning the antitrust standard applicable to so-called “pay for delay” settlements to patent litigation.

Prior to joining Munger, Tolles & Olson in 2004, Friedland completed a two-year lectureship at Stanford Law School, where she taught federal jurisdiction and environment law. She clerked for Judge Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court from 2001 to 2002, and for Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 2000 to 2001. She has also served as an adjunct professor for the University of Virginia School of Law, where she taught a seminar on Constitutional Issues in Higher Education, and as co-chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Amicus Committee. She is also a member of the board of the Silicon Valley Campaign for legal Services and the National Association of College and University Attorneys.

Her pro bono practice garnered her the California State Bar’s 2013 President’s Pro Bono Service Award, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California’s 2009 LGBT Award for her work in challenging California’s Proposition 8, and the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California’s Wiley W. Manuel award for pro bono legal services in 2006.

Friedland received her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2000, and a B.S. in ecology and population biology from Stanford University in 1995. Between college and law school, she studied political theory at Oxford University for a year on a Fulbright Scholarship.

On the same day it nominated Friedland, the White House nominated fellow Munger, Tolles & Olson partner John B. Owens to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Kansas Supreme Court Justice Nancy L. Moritz to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

“Michelle T. Friedland, Justice Nancy L. Moritz and John B. Owens will bring an unwavering commitment to fairness and judicial integrity to the federal bench,” said President Barack Obama. “Their impressive legal careers are testaments to the kind of thoughtful and diligent judges they will be on the Ninth and Tenth Circuits. I am honored to nominate them today.”

News: IndustryNewsTrends