Harold J. McElhinny

It's been a year of wins for McElhinny, most recently in the form of a $1 billion jury verdict for Apple Inc. against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. last month in one of the most widely-watched trials of the year.

Much of McElhinny's punch in the Samsung trial came in the closing arguments, when he emphasized the jury should rely on the South Korea-based company's internal documents and emails to find in Apple's favor.

He crafted a cohesive story about what happened, starting with Apple designers sitting around a kitchen table crafting the iPhone and leading up to Samsung executives saying the company was having a "crisis in design" and ending with phones and tablets that looked similar to Apple's.

McElhinny said that not only does he believe chronology is important, but that he teaches young lawyers at Morrison & Foerster to emphasize it.

"In a world where you have emails available and you can see the lines of communication, you can see how things unfolded," he said. "That's important for anybody trying to figure out the truth."

McElhinny thinks his success with juries comes from being sincere.

"I'm a fourth-generation Irish-American salesman," he said. "One of the first lessons a salesperson learns is you have to believe in your product. I tend to get very involved in my client and the importance of having them succeed. I think that comes across when I talk."

In another victory this year, McElhinny defeated a $1.8 billion case in April in which his client, Nikon Corp., was being sued for patent infringement on a high-resolution photolithography machine. The federal judge in Manhattan declared all three claimed patents invalid.

"It was your classic difficult case to defend," McElhinny said. "It was a sole inventor - a guy with good credentials. The firm representing him was a very well-known plaintiffs' securities firm in New York City. It would have been a dangerous jury case."

McElhinny tried another case for Apple at the International Trade Commission, and a decision on it will be made in October. Next, he is representing W.L. Gore & Associates Inc. in a case involving medical devices.

- HADLEY ROBINSON