Diane M. Doolittle

Litigation

Redwood Shores

Diane M. Doolittle is co-chair of the national trial practice at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, where she has tried more than 75 cases and won 92% of them in complex commercial, intellectual property and employment disputes.

"I come from a family of engineers, not lawyers," she said. "It was a circuitous journey, but we had a very lively speech and debate society in high school and a lot of us went into the law."

After graduating from UC Berkeley School of Law, she worked briefly at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati LLP and at Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP and clerked for U.S. District Judge Ronald M. Whyte of San Jose. Doolittle then spent five years as a senior trial attorney for the Santa Clara County district attorney's office.

She's currently prepping for three major trials.

In the fall, she'll be representing a Texas equity fund that specializes in distressed assets. It acquired The Weinstein Company out of bankruptcy as the Harvey Weinstein scandal unfolded -- only to be challenged by supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle, who claims he's owed more than $100 million in damages as a finder's fee and for assistance in the acquisition. The Yucaipa Companies LLC v. Lantern Asset Management, BC713894 (L.A. Sup. Ct., filed July 16, 2018).

"It began as a sad and sordid story as the Weinstein Company was in terrible distress," Doolittle said. "Burkle said he'd buy it, and in our view he reneged. Like anyone who becomes a billionaire, he's got an A-game. He's a formidable foe."

In 2025, she'll be on the plaintiff side of the "v" as she represents a small drug development company that accuses pharma giant Eli Lilly & Co. of breaching its contract to co-develop the plaintiff's promising new drug candidate to treat autoimmune diseases. Lilly allegedly harmed the drug's chances in the marketplace by botching the math in clinical trials, calling its efficacy into question, and by slowing its entry in favor of a rival drug. Nektar Therapeutics v. Eli Lilly & Co., 3:23-cv-03943 (N.D. Cal., filed Aug. 7, 2023).

"We're going in guns blazing, and we expect to go the distance," Doolittle said. "We need to send the important message that you can't damage our goods."

The third trial, also set for 2025, is an IP dispute in which Doolittle is defending the digital workflow company ServiceNow Inc. against claims that its business process platform infringes three patents held by the plaintiff. InQuisient Inc. v. ServiceNow Inc., 1:22-cv-00900 (D. Del., filed July 5, 2022).

"Our firm does both defense and plaintiff work, and we think that's an advantage," Doolittle said. "As a plaintiff, you get to set the narrative. As a defendant, you get to poke holes."

-- John Roemer