WilmerHale Disqualified as Verizon Counsel in Headwater Dispute

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP failed to convince a Texas federal judge to allow the law firm to represent Verizon Communications Inc. against Headwater Research LLC, days before jury selection in the patent infringement case.

Headwater and two former WilmerHale clients have the same principal, inventor Gregory Raleigh, according to a memorandum order filed July 11 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Magistrate Judge Roy Payne said the attorneys who handled the previous matters have left the law firm, but Verizon’s damages expert is focusing on documents drafted by WilmerHale’s former employees.

“The ...