Ryan G. Baker

Ryan G. Baker co-founded the trial and appellate boutique now named Waymaker LLP in 2006 with law partner Jaime W. Marquart. Originally known as Baker Marquart LLP, they rebranded in 2021 with a new logo and website.

They wanted to get away from "just white male names," Baker said. "The goal was a name reflective of a team spirit that doesn't revolve around a couple of individuals."

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Baker worked as an associate at Cooley LLP and at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP. "I always had an interest in protecting other people's rights," he said. "During the dotcom era I did corporate work at Cooley, then switched to litigation. I'd worked at Harvard Legal Aid, so I had some courtroom time, and I've always found the courtroom an exhilarating experience."

He said he and Marquart got extensive experience at Quinn Emanuel, but left to start their own firm in order to have greater control over their client relationships. He works pro bono for organizations such as Inner City Law Center, Public Counsel and the Anti-Defamation League. As a mentor at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles, he met a youth who came to clerk at Waymaker and has set his sights on law school. Baker recently accepted a pro bono appointment to represent the mother of a man shot and killed by Los Angeles police. The case is nearing trial.

In April, a federal judge awarded $18.3 million to Baker's client, a Beverly Hills urologist, following claims that a rival in Texas misappropriated trade secrets, filed for two patents on the information and claimed to have invented the penile enhancement implant device at issue. International Medical Devices Inc. et al. v. Robert Cornell MD et al., 2:20-cv-03503 (C.D. Cal., filed April 15, 2020).

The award followed a trial last year on liability at which a jury found 8-0 on all ten claims asserted by Baker's client, James Elist, MD. U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall of Los Angeles also invalidated both of Cornell's patents and prohibited him from commercializing Elist's design concepts for five years. "We won on every claim after a two-week trial, and I'm happy for our client," Baker said. "This defendant published Dr. Elist's trade secrets to the world." A possible appeal is pending.

"Our firm works to validate the interests of clients being wronged," Baker said.

-- John Roemer