Intellectual Property & Media partner Jessica L. Falk has been named one of Law360’s national “Rising Stars” for Intellectual Property in recognition of her expertise and record of success in high-stakes trademark, copyright, and complex IP and commercial litigation.

Law360’s profile of Jessica, one of just five Intellectual Property honorees, highlighted her role representing Nuance Communications in its lawsuit against IBM over a licensing agreement for software that drives IBM’s Watson technology. Jessica recently served as co-lead trial counsel to Nuance, and managed the overall case direction and strategy, including successfully arguing that Nuance should receive IBM source code as part of the case discovery. Persuading the magistrate judge to grant Nuance access to the source code was the proudest moment of her career.

"I convinced her that we needed to get the source code and the metadata for the products, and that was really important in terms of discovery to show the connection," Jessica said. "It's an abstract concept to explain, and I was proud to get the court on our side for that."

The profile also highlighted Jessica’s work protecting The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Entertainment’s copyright ownership rights to its popular comic book superheroes, including X-Men, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Thor.

 

In addition, Jessica discussed the development of her litigation practice and the thrill she gets from working in a multifaceted field with an engaging group of colleagues.

"That's what gets me up in the morning," Jessica said. "I really like my job, I like the people I'm here with and every day is something new. I'd be working on an IP matter in the morning, and an antitrust matter in the afternoon."

The “Rising Star” awards recognize top attorneys under the age of 40 “whose legal accomplishments transcend their age.” The honorees were selected by Law360 from a competitive pool of more than 1,400 submissions.