Darin W. Snyder

O'Melveny & Myers LLP

San Francisco

Intellectual property litigation

During the past year, Snyder has worked on a case where the stakes were higher than usual -- even by the seasoned litigator's standards.

"It truly threatened the existence of the company," Snyder said of the lawsuit filed against his client, biopharmaceutical company JHL Biotech Inc. "We're proud and honored our clients showed us the confidence to [hire us] for a variety of significant matters, and they involved dollar amounts that were sometimes beyond comprehension."

"But most cases don't truly threaten the existence of your client, and this is one that did," he said. Genentech Inc. v. JHL Biotech Inc., 18-CV06582 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct 29, 2018).

In its complaint, Genentech alleged JHL stole trade secrets and other confidential information to produce similar versions of its medicines.

Genetech also sought a preliminary injunction that would have effectively shut down JHL.

Snyder and his team at O'Melveny & Myers LLP convinced U.S. District Judge William Alsup to issue a much more limited injunction -- one that allowed JHL to continue operating through the lawsuit.

"That favorable preliminary injunction paved the way for a settlement which allows the company to move forward," Snyder said. "And we've been working with the company to do that and resolve all the other ancillary outstanding legal matters that proceeded from Genentech's suit."

In a year when Snyder was in charge of nearly three dozen matters, the Genentech case stood out to him, he said. But as O'Melveny's diversity and inclusion partner, he's also proud of the various efforts he spearheaded to make the firm more diverse.

"One of our most innovative programs, at least in the context of the legal industry, is our use of Pymetrics to assist our hiring," Snyder said. "Pymetrics is a tool that uses big data and machine learning to improve the quality of the hiring process. It's been adopted by a number of leading companies around the world but it's never been used by a law firm."

The technology allowed O'Melveny to reach a broader range of candidates because anyone can access the evaluation tool online.

"Historically we've been limited to those candidates that we interview on campuses," Snyder explained. "It's almost completely prevented us from meeting those many hundreds and thousands of candidates ... who aren't at a school where we go."

The firm only introduced Pymetrics in 2019, but Snyder said the early returns are encouraging. "Our hope is that over time this will help us make smarter hiring decisions," he said.

-- Jessica Mach