Stefani E. Shanberg

Shanberg tells her associates that careers don’t grow in days and weeks. They grow in months and years.

She should know. Since joining Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office in 2017, Shanberg’s practice has tripled in size. And her team has grown from the six attorneys she brought over from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC to more than 30 firm-wide.

Her clients now include the likes of online retailer Amazon.com Inc., streaming music site Spotify USA Inc. and software giant Symantec Corp., the latter coming back to her with more work.

“It’s a very high compliment when you have the types of relationships and obtain the types of results that lead to new cases from great clients,” she said.

After getting a favorable settlement for subsidiary Blue Coat Systems, Symantec tapped her to defend them against Palo Alto-based CUPP Cybersecurity. Citing TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, Shanberg successfully argued the case to be moved from Texas to California. CUPP Cybersecurity LLC et. al. v. Symantec Corporation, 19-CV00298 (N. D. Cal. filed June 14, 2018).

In February, she persuaded a Delaware district judge to dismiss a patent infringement case against Spotify. MOAEC LLC v. Spotify USA Inc., 18-CV00377 (D. of Delaware, filed March 9, 2018). Chief U.S. District Judge Leonard P. Stark declared the patent invalid at an unusual “Section 101 Hearing Day.”

She’s also tried cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission, a federal agency that investigates unfair trade practices that could harms U.S. businesses. In that forum, she is lead counsel for Amazon, defending the company against auto parts manufacturer Walbro LLC. In the Matter of Certain Carburetors and Prodcts Containing Such Carburetors, 337-TA-1123 (ITC, filed June 14, 2018).

Shanberg said she enjoys practicing before the commission. It gives her chance to be more novel and creative in her defenses.

“You’re litigating issues that help to develop good law for companies like Amazon who shouldn’t really be called into the ITC based upon things that third parties are doing on their website,” she said.

— Glenn Jeffers