Goodwin partners Neel Chatterjee and Brett Schuman have once again been named to Daily Journal’s Top Intellectual Property Lawyers for 2025. The list recognizes California attorneys for their impact on intellectual property and the development of law.
Based in Silicon Valley, Neel is a partner in Goodwin’s Intellectual Property practice. An internationally recognized technology and trial lawyer, Neel represents entrepreneurs and companies at the cutting edge of new and disruptive technologies, and his cases often break new ground in undefined areas of the law. A key strategist on complex litigation spanning multiple venues, Neel simplifies complex concepts to ensure that judges and juries understand the key issues in each case. He has substantial experience handling disputes related to patents, trade secrets, copyrights, internet law, and complex commercial technology issues.
Neel has repeatedly been recognized by Daily Journal as a Top IP Lawyer for nearly two decades, and this year’s issue noted his work on cases “that test the boundaries of intellectual property law.” Daily Journal highlighted Neel’s representation of Canopy, a startup that developed a "panic button” for health care workers, in an IP dispute with Commure Inc. It also recognized his leadership of the Goodwin team representing utility management and billing services company Conservice in a complex matter that deals with an emerging issue of services acting as a proxy for users in order to provide better solutions for the users.
Brett is Co-Chair of Goodwin’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice, a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee, the former Chair of the firm’s San Francisco office and the former head of the Litigation department for Goodwin’s California offices. He serves as lead trial counsel in patent infringement, trade secret and other cases involving complex technologies. Brett’s practice also comprises copyright and trademark litigation. Brett is also the co-founder and co-leader of Goodwin’s Chambers-ranked Cannabis practice and he has led the representation of cannabis companies dealing with cutting-edge trademark infringement issues.
This is the fifth consecutive year that Brett has been recognized as a Top IP Lawyer by Daily Journal. This year’s issue highlighted his defense of EV startup Rivian Automotive against Tesla in a trade secret case where Tesla sought more than $100 million. It also mentioned Brett’s efforts leading the Goodwin team representing Microchip Technology Inc. in a multi-patent litigation filed by HD Silicon Solutions, which involved several successful written decisions invalidating many of the asserted patent claims at the PTAB. Brett argued and won two appeals at the Federal Circuit arising out of this case – one of which resulted in a precedential decision. It also mentioned Brett’s 2024 jury trial win for the founders of an EDA company Nangate in a fraud and breach of contract case against Silvaco, Inc. In that case, the jury verdicts totaled approximately $40 million in compensatory and punitive damages.