They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40- Eden Schiffmann of Williams & Connolly

Please describe two of your most substantial, recent wins in practice.

In 2020, I represented Booking.com in the Supreme Court. When we entered the case, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office had just persuaded the Supreme Court to grant review. The government argued that the combination of a generic word (“Booking”) and “.com” could not qualify as a trademark.

The case was everything I love about our work. We had a great team. We pursued creative strategies, including submitting an appendix of hundreds of registered trademarks (“Container Store,” “Home Depot”) that would be imperiled by the government’s position. We wrote a killer brief and prepped partner Lisa Blatt hard for oral argument. And ultimately the client obtained an 8-1 victory, securing their ability to trademark their own name.

I also represented a client in both the trial and appellate courts in a criminal case raising double jeopardy issues. The government sought to prosecute my client despite resolving the same charges by plea agreement years earlier.

Prosecutors claimed the plea bargain was based on a “mutual mistake of fact,” and could be voided like any contract. The trial court agreed. We kept fighting, appealed, and won before the Appellate Court of Maryland. In 2021, it threw out the second prosecution entirely, finding that it violated double jeopardy.

What is the most important lesson you learned as a first-year attorney and how does it inform your practice today?

You’re never too junior to take ownership of a case. Many of my early cases at the firm were just me—pretty much fresh out of law school—and a senior partner who had twenty other cases. I had to come up with the winning legal theory, find the winning documents, keep on top of scheduling, and earn the client’s trust.

That was enormously stressful, but also a huge opportunity. I benefitted from the advice of mid-level and senior associates who made time to teach me even though they were not on my matters. And with that help, I got an early education in how to develop and run cases.

As I have become more senior, I always emphasize to junior associates that they are the ones most likely to find the winning argument, the winning document, the winning wild idea—because they usually take the first look. Litigation is a team sport, and we get the best results if everyone, no matter how junior, is empowered to take the ball and run. Senior folk don’t have a monopoly on good ideas, and everyone needs to know and believe that they could be the one to break the case open.

How do you define success in your practice?

We have to focus on one question: Are we achieving the client’s goal? Of course, we always try to win every part of every case, and there is nothing more satisfying than total victory. But litigation counseling is complex, and sometimes the goal is to minimize risk, defeat the count with the highest penalties, defend a legal principle important to the business, or prevent a claim from being brought. As a litigator and counselor, I maintain my desire to beat the adversary, which is powerful motivation; but I also focus on what truly matters to the client. The client’s goal is paramount.

What are you most proud of as a lawyer?

The victory I’m proudest of was a criminal case that seemed unwinnable at many points. The case was loaded with bad facts. The prosecution was unwilling to offer any plea bargain that wouldn’t devastate the client’s life and that of his family.

But we developed several novel theories to exclude much of the evidence. When the trial judge refused to suppress the evidence—or even grant my request for an evidentiary hearing—we had no choice but to go to trial. It was my first time as first chair in a jury trial. The jury convicted, but I used the trial to put in the evidence I would have put in at the suppression hearing we never got to have.

After the conviction, I drafted a cert petition to the state supreme court—a longshot’s longshot. To our delight, the court granted review, and ultimately reversed the trial court’s denial of one of the suppression motions.

On remand, the prosecutors dropped the charges—and the client was safe. That case taught me to keep fighting and keep bashing my head against the wall until the wall breaks. Litigators need to believe that a seemingly unwinnable case is winnable—because it frequently is.

Who is your greatest mentor in the law and what have they taught you?

I am blessed to have had so many generous mentors, including Judge Harry Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for whom I clerked and many of the partners who brought me up as a litigator. Judge Edwards has a knack for immediately finding the issue on which any case turns, and learning from him was an extraordinary experience. I turn to him for advice to this day.

But at the firm, nobody has taught me more than Dane Butswinkas, [Williams & Connolly former chairman]. He is an exceptional trial lawyer, client counselor, and partner. He brings the same integrity and hard work to each of these roles. Whether it’s watching him cross a witness or advise a client, he sets the standard I hope to meet in my career, and he takes the time to explain his craft and offer guidance.

And even before I made partner, he began teaching me about how to be a good partner and how to build a business. On top of all this, Dane is one of the true champions of the Williams & Connolly culture. Dane has taught me that investing in others and in the institutions we are part of is not only the right thing to do, but also pays dividends.

Tell us your two favorite songs on your summer music playlist.

My one-year-old loves dancing with dada. His current favorites (and therefore mine) are “Barbara Ann” by the Beach Boys and the Kygo/Whitney Houston version of “Higher Love.”

Eden Schiffman of Williams & Connolly with his wife and son crossing a fjord in Norway.

Credit: Eden Schiffmann and Jonathan Hurtarte/Bloomberg Law