Sarah E. Piepmeier 

There are two reasons Sarah E. Piepmeier is happy she returned to Perkins Coie in 2019 after 13 years away.

One is the deep and broad connections the firm has with major high-tech companies. “The access to so many tech clients has really enhanced my practice,” she said. “I’m doing work for more companies now than I was before. I feel so fortunate to have active matters for Intel, Cisco, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix and Google.”

The other reason is the great importance the firm places on diversity within its ranks and from its clients. “I’m actually seeing more advances with regard to DEI than I had in the previous 10 years of my career,” she said.

Clients are now demanding to know about the firm’s diversity statistics and who is actually working on their matters. “I am all of a sudden seeing clients who [are] … holding us accountable in a way that I welcome and appreciate,” Piepmeier said.

“I am thrilled by it because that is one of the things that is absolutely a hallmark of my practice,” she said. “Every single patent litigation or IP litigation team that we’re fielding here and that I’m a part of is going to put forth a representative group of lawyers who represent our community. … I want to be held accountable to that by the firm and by my clients.”

And Perkins feels the same. “We are the most diverse outside counsel for large companies such as Intel,” Piepmeier said. “That is the way we do things. It is a value of the firm.”

In her cases lately, Piepmeier scored what she described as a “resounding” and surprising victory for Facebook’s parent company last year. She defended Meta when it was sued for allegedly infringing a patent dealing with using technology to control access to copyrighted material. Last June, U.S. District Judge Alan Albright granted Meta’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, calling part of the plaintiff’s argument “threadbare at best.” Grecia Estate Holdings LLC v. Meta Platforms, Inc., 6:21-cv-00677 (W.D. Tex., filed June 28, 2021).

“It is rare to grant a motion to dismiss with prejudice … so far before trial,” Piepmeier said. “It’s not usually the way things go in Texas.”

Also, last year, she was part of the team that rebuffed challenges at the ITC to some of Intel’s patents on its technology that prevents copying of digital audio content while in transit. In the Matter of Certain Digital Video-Capable Devices and Components Thereof, 337-TA-1224 (ITC, decis. March 23, 2022).

The case was argued remotely, but the very large Perkins Coie team on the complex case traveled to the firm’s Washington, D.C., for the hearing. It was the first time some of the lawyers had met one another. That was “one of the things that was so fun about it,” she said. Piepmeier, who grew up in D.C., picked up the pizza herself.

— Don DeBenedictis