Melanie E. Walker

Melanie E. Walker is co-chair of the corporate and securities litigation practice at DLA Piper US. She joined the firm in 2021 after nearly two decades at Sidley Austin LLP.

“It’s been a great change for me,” Walker said. “It’s good to switch things up, to flex your muscles. I’m getting some great cases here.”

When she arrived at her new firm, DLA Piper was in the midst of lengthy litigation for wireless carrier client MetroPCS California LLC over a state surcharge on prepaid mobile phone services. California regulators sought to collect more than $220 million from the client. The matter had been to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal on federal preemption claims; a Northern District judge had rejected summary judgment motions by both sides; a trial loomed.

“I was brought in to try the case,” Walker said. Her long track record of dealing with accounting issues in corporate and securities cases was particularly significant because allocation of revenues by MetroPCS was a key issue. “I’ve represented a lot of auditors, and there was quite a bit of overlap here,” she said. Her input would be crucial in winning the matter for her client. MetroPCS California LLC v. Batjer et al., 3:17-cv-05959 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct. 17, 2017).

The case was tried on an expedited basis before U.S. District Judge James J. Donato of San Francisco. “The parties asked for five days and Judge Donato gave us two,” Walker said. She and her trial team compressed a mass of technical accounting and telecommunications law issues into a persuasive narrative. “We really worked on boiling it down.”

After a morning of trial, Donato speeded things up even further. “Just before lunch, he said, ‘I think we can finish this today,’ so we had to boil everything down even further.”

The morning’s proceedings provided a road map. “Judge Donato is very sharp and he asked very good questions, so we could tell what was of interest to him,” Walker said. She put on her first fact witness, a MetroPCS accountant. “There were facts we couldn’t shortcut on, such as different accounting procedures from two different time periods. Our witness was very knowledgeable and credible. By the time he got off the stand, I thought we had won.”

Walker was right. Donato found for her client, granting judgment for MetroPCS and holding that the California surcharges were preempted. The CPUC did not appeal.

—John Roemer