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Law Student Learns by First-Hand Experience, Work on case led to $185M verdict
December 19 , 2007 by EditorPhoenix, AZ - James D. Griffith, a second year student at the Phoenix School of Law had an opportunity few other law students have – he worked on a patent infringement case that resulted in a $185M verdict in favor of the client. Jim is employed as a paralegal by James F. Polese of Polese, Pietzsch, Williams & Nolan, P.A., one of three law firms that represented Tempe-based Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. (BPV) in the litigation.
“We’ve been working on this case since it was filed by my firm in early 2003,” said Griffith. “I was fortunate to be involved in most of the pretrial matters, and I was heavily involved in organizing a document database that included hundreds of thousands of documents. And I was in the courtroom almost every day during the trial.”
“Jim’s involvement in the case and his mastery of the record proved to be invaluable,” said Jim Polese.
BPV holds the rights to a patent for a prosthetic vascular graft. After the patent issued in 2002, W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. refused to take a license under the patent, and BPV sued Gore for patent infringement (Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. v. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.) in U.S. District Court. After four and a half years, the case went to trial before the Hon. Mary H. Murguia, and earlier this month the jury returned a verdict in favor of BPV for willful infringement.
Griffith has worked for his employer for more than 10 years. In addition to working as a litigation paralegal, Griffith is the Editor-in-Chief of the Phoenix Law Review, which will publish its first issue this Spring. He began law school in January 2005 and plans to graduate in May 2009.
“I have been fortunate to work with wonderful attorneys. They have encouraged and mentored me as a paralegal and as a law student,” Griffith said.
Phoenix School of Law is Arizona’s only privately owned law school, and the only Arizona law school offering full-time, part-time and evening classes. The School received provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association in June 2007. The mission of PhoenixLaw is to provide student-centered education, produce professionally prepared graduates, and serve the underserved. For more information, visit www.phoenixlaw.org.
