Washington, D.C.

Lawyers in Duane Morris’ Washington, D.C. office represent clients before state and federal courts; state, federal and international agencies; the U.S. Congress; and other legislative bodies. Our attorneys have extensive experience with U.S. government agencies and thoroughly understand the complex state and federal regulations governing corporate practices. As many of our D.C. attorneys previously held leadership positions in the government and military, they offer an experienced perspective on how regulatory, legislative and procedural developments can impact our clients.

Range of Services

Intellectual Property and IP Litigation

Duane Morris’ intellectual property (IP) lawyers recognize the importance of clients’ intellectual capital to the success of their businesses and understand how to uphold IP rights to increase opportunities for clients to enhance market share. The Duane Morris Intellectual Property Practice Group offers a full range of IP services relating to the acquisition, maintenance, transfer and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Additionally, our IP practice includes all aspects of patent, trademark, unfair competition, brand protection, copyright and trade secret law, including counseling, prosecution and domestic and international licensing. Members of the firm’s IP practice have played pivotal roles in the development of IP law, and their ranks include attorneys with extensive backgrounds in telecommunications, wireless communications, computer software, semiconductors, fiber optics, lighting, various mechanical arts, biosciences and government contract matters.

Duane Morris lawyers across the U.S. have substantial experience in all areas of IP litigation, including jury trials on behalf of IP owners and accused infringers in patent, trademark, trade dress, copyright and trade secret cases. The firm’s IP attorneys represent clients in mediation, arbitration, inter partes proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and before appellate courts concerning IP matters.

ITC Section 337 Litigation

The attorneys in Duane Morris’ highly experienced U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) practice have represented clients in almost 50 separate Section 337 investigations. Spanning all technologies found in Section 337 cases, the firm’s deep IP litigation bench is equally as proficient before the ITC as in any U.S. district court. Duane Morris attorneys have played a continuing role throughout the modern era (post-1988) in Section 337 litigation. Duane Morris has ITC lawyers with intimate familiarity of ITC law and procedures, as well as knowledge of the differences in preferences among the ITC decision makers. Our ITC practice is headquartered in our Washington, D.C. office, minutes away from the ITC itself.

Energy and Natural Resources

Duane Morris energy attorneys assist clients with advisory, regulatory, litigation and legislative matters involving water, natural resources, energy and environmental issues. The group includes lawyers throughout the country in a cross-cutting team with the ability to provide advice on every aspect of the oil, electric, natural gas and renewables industries, including exploration and production, transportation, compliance with safety and environmental laws, licensing, and interactions with federal, state and municipal authorities as well as industry participants. The firm’s attorneys regularly represent clients before the federal courts, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of the Interior (DOI) and numerous state regulatory commissions. The firm also assists federal and state regulators and agencies in the formation and implementation of regulations and policymaking. Prior to joining Duane Morris, several of the attorneys held high-level positions with energy-related governmental agencies, committees and commissions, including the FERC, and are familiar with their operations and procedures.

Immigration

Attorneys in Duane Morris’ Immigration Practice Group serve a diverse group of clients, including multinational corporations, small professional businesses, financial institutions, embassies and individuals. Attorneys in the Washington, D.C. office have a comprehensive knowledge of the legal, political and business context in which immigration concerns arise, and have been recognized by a number of publications, including Chambers USA, Chambers Global, and Washingtonian magazine, as leaders in immigration law. They not only have a thorough understanding of immigration law, but also understand the bureaucratic intricacies, that frequently arise when dealing with decision makers at the Departments of Homeland Security, State, Commerce and Labor.

The firm assists clients in obtaining non-immigrant visas including those for H-1B professionals (i.e., doctors, engineers, computer scientists), L intracompany transferees, E treaty investors, students, entertainers, extraordinary ability, foreign media, cultural exchanges and other types. Duane Morris also assists with immigrant visas, including labor certifications, multinational executives/managers, outstanding professors and researchers, nurses, doctors, physical therapists, investors and family visas. The firm provides representation before federal and immigration courts in deportation hearings, waiver cases, complex immigration cases, analysis of criminal issues for foreign nationals, I-9 Compliance programs and employer sanctions, and work closely with attorneys in various specialties with immigration ramification issues. Duane Morris attorneys also provide guidance on visa matters at U.S. embassies around the world.

Education

Duane Morris attorneys have a long history representing Ivy League universities, state universities, law schools, medical schools, business schools, private non-profit colleges, community colleges and other traditional institutions of higher learning. The firm also have decades of experience with the unique regulatory landscape and challenges faced by proprietary schools and colleges. Our lawyers have also provided a broad range of services to individual charter, virtual and private schools, charter school networks, charter and education management organizations, school districts and other education organizations that partner with pre-kindergarten, elementary and secondary schools. In addition, we represent higher education associations, accreditors, investors, lenders, content providers and other ancillary business that support the education sector and other companies that provide goods and services to educational institutions.

Duane Morris understands the unique needs of academic institutions by being involved with them. Duane Morris attorneys have chaired and served on boards of various types of academic institutions and have also served as general counsel and as senior executives in companies that own and operate colleges. In addition, attorneys in the firm are members of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA). Duane Morris provides a broad range of education legal services in the areas of accreditation advices and advocacy, state education licensing, distance education, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, student relations, student litigation, regulatory investigations, personnel matters, litigation and insurance, finance, deferred giving, estates and taxation, constitutional law, real estate, construction and environmental law and intellectual property. The attorneys in the Education Practice Group in the Washington office also regularly engage on behalf of clients in the higher education policy process as registered lobbyists.

Banking and Financial Services

Duane Morris attorneys have represented banks, savings associations and their holding companies in jurisdictions across the U.S. and around the world. The firm’s lawyers also have represented other providers of financial services, including investment banking and brokerage firms, commercial finance companies, insurance companies and credit unions in a broad range of regulatory, legislative and business law areas. The firm serves as counsel in a wide range of expansion and restructuring transactions, including domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, strategic divestitures, merger/conversion transactions, purchases and sales of branches and branch systems, product development, the pursuit of new powers, antitrust counseling, formation of new banks and savings associations, the transformation of banks and nonbanks into other business forms and litigation. The firm’s lawyers have represented clients before the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Department of Justice, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the National Credit Union Administration and state banking, securities, insurance and antitrust supervisors.

Corporate, Securities, Mergers and Acquisitions

Duane Morris corporate attorneys advise early-stage and mature companies on a wide variety of corporate and securities matters. Members of the Corporate Practice Group are experienced with mergers and acquisitions, including negotiated acquisitions and divestitures as well as hostile acquisitions and defense against takeover attempts, public and private offerings of equity and debt securities, corporate finance, corporate compliance, corporate governance, taxation, SEC regulatory matters and venture capital and private equity transactions. Duane Morris lawyers regularly represent international clients in both domestic and transnational transactions and work with many clients in developing and implementing creative strategies to accomplish their corporate finance and acquisition objectives. The firm’s attorneys also represent clients in a range of securities offerings and advise public companies on compliance with ongoing reporting obligations and other securities laws.

Health Law

In one of the most regulated industries in the United States, Duane Morris’ healthcare attorneys provide innovative solutions to assist healthcare providers in protecting their assets and increasing their overall profitability while remaining compliant with federal and state laws and regulations. The firm’s healthcare clients benefit from one of the most experienced healthcare practice groups in the country. Duane Morris advises a wide range of healthcare organizations, hospitals and clinical professionals in regulatory and corporate matters, contract and commercial litigation, labor and employment, real estate, compliance, managed care, credentialing, reimbursement and taxation issues. Duane Morris attorneys have extensive experience with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Stark and Anti-Kickback regulations, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as well as with staying abreast of the homeland security issues that face the healthcare industry today. When the uncertainty that characterizes the healthcare system spills over into legal disputes, Duane Morris lawyers represent clients in courts, arbitration and mediation sessions and administrative proceedings.

Commercial Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Lawyers in Duane Morris’ Trial Practice Group represent clients in all types of complex commercial litigation, from inception through trial and appeal. Duane Morris litigators regularly handle complex commercial litigation matters in a wide array of areas, including securities, antitrust, franchise and dealerships, IP, products liability and real estate matters. Duane Morris’ litigators often work closely with the firm’s corporate and bankruptcy lawyers in the representation of financial institutions. The firm’s attorneys are well versed in all phases of litigation and alternate dispute resolution, including substantial experience in handling preliminary injunction hearings, trials, appeals, arbitrations and mediations. In addition to representing clients in U.S. forums and before international tribunals, the firm also provides counsel on settling disputes without conventional litigation by using alternative dispute resolution and advises on methods to anticipate and avoid litigation.

White-Collar Criminal Litigation

Duane Morris counsels both individuals and corporations facing federal and state allegations of criminal conduct. The firm’s lawyers advise clients accused of Medicare/Medicaid fraud and abuse, environmental crimes, securities violations, criminal tax fraud, fraud in government procurement, RICO violations, trade espionage and a variety of business-related offenses.

Products Liability, Toxic Torts and Product Safety

Duane Morris’ national litigation practice represents numerous international and national manufacturers and insurance companies in all forms of products liability litigation, including defense of product class actions, in both federal and state courts, and consolidated multidistrict actions, serving as lead counsel and as local, regional and national counsel. The firm’s experience includes defense of mass tort litigation in which lawsuits from multiple districts are handled by a coordinated team effort. Whether defending a products liability client in a single catastrophic injury case or acting as national litigation coordinating counsel for a client with thousands of pending product cases, Duane Morris litigators are supported by the firm’s state-of-the-art litigation technology, which is creatively applied to efficiently and cost-effectively meet the needs of the particular litigation.

In addition to handling litigation matters, Duane Morris product lawyers have a wealth of experience assisting clients in developing and implementing product recalls on a national and worldwide basis, and in representing clients involving reporting, recall and penalty proceedings before the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The firm’s product safety group also advises clients regarding product development risk management, labeling and instructions, safety standards, warranties, quality assurance and testing, records management, import-export, distributor and retailer relationships, and risk-shifting strategies involving contracts, insurance and other tools.

Internal and Government Investigations

The Duane Morris Corporate Compliance and Internal Investigations Practice Group has extensive experience in public and private corporations in both proactive and defensive internal investigations. Corporations may choose to proactively initiate an internal investigation in order to help ensure regulatory compliance and thereby avoid any sanctionable conduct. In these cases, Duane Morris attorneys work with corporations to define the parameters, conduct the investigations and identify how much information to voluntarily disclose to government agencies. In instances where a corporation is being faced with charges of wrong doing by government agencies, the firm’s attorneys work with the company and boards of directors to help ensure subpoena and search warrant compliance, as well as prepare appropriate responses to civil investigative demands and represent clients at trial should criminal charges be filed.

Duane Morris has represented companies in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and insurance industries in matters concerning antitrust; price fixing; civil tax liabilities; violations of agency laws rules, and regulations; shareholder derivative actions; employment practices; theft and misuse of corporate funds; insurance fraud; bribery; environmental impact and contracts issues.

International

The Duane Morris International Practice Group integrates the services of attorneys from various disciplines who practice around the world, creating a global infrastructure of not only international experience, but also enhanced sensitivity to cultural differences. In the area of international trade regulation, the firm provides advice regarding domestic and international regulatory and commercial aspects of trade in goods and services, including product labeling and other domestic and foreign regulations that affect imports and exports, and has extensive experience arguing cases before international bodies, such as the International Trade Commission. The firm’s client base includes foreign governments, international and foreign corporations, foreign nationals and domestic entities desiring to conduct business abroad. Duane Morris has represented U.S. companies in acquisitions abroad, as well as foreign companies in connection with acquisitions in the United States. Attorneys in the International Practice Group are familiar with the intricacies of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and have counseled and defended foreign sovereigns and diplomats in actions pending before federal courts throughout the U.S.

Real Estate

Duane Morris attorneys advise clients on the laws governing retail development, project development and land use and have extensive experience with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as other federal and state regulating entities. Members of the Real Estate Practice Group represent and counsel clients in various aspects of real estate matters, providing both transactional and litigation support on issues relating to title insurance, lending, leasing, creditors’ rights and lender liability, and in the development of planned real estate projects, including condominiums, cooperatives and planned unit developments.

For More Information

For more information, please contact Sheila Slocum Hollis, Patrick D. McPherson or any of the lawyers referenced in the Attorney Listing.