OKLAHOMA CITY, Mar 22, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Phillip L. Free, one of the nation’s leading intellectual property (IP) attorneys and shareholder of Hall Estill in Oklahoma City, was named co-recipient of the esteemed “Litigator of the Year” award by Benchmark Litigation at the Benchmark Annual Awards -- South. The ceremony took place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Atlanta earlier this month. Free, along with Crowe & Dunlevy’s Mack Morgan III, took home the coveted honor based in part for their work on the case GoForIt Entertainment LLC v. Digimedia.com., which also won “Case of the Year.” Another of Free and Morgan’s cases, Mark Brill v. Walt Disney, was also one of three nominated for “Case of the Year.” Free and Morgan led these cases during Free’s time at Crowe & Dunlevy where he co-chaired the IP Practice Group. The two continued working together on the case when Free joined Hall Estill in 2010. Free was recently recognized on the 2012 Best Lawyers of the Year list for the second time.
“This award couldn’t go to a more deserving candidate,” Hall Estill Executive Committee Member Mike Smith said. “Simply put, Phil is one of the best intellectual property attorneys in the nation, and we are extremely pleased to have him as a member of our team at Hall Estill. Since he joined our firm to lead our IP practice, we have seen impressive growth in this area. The quality of his work is second-to-none, and his penchant for detail and tireless work ethic continue to define him as a leading expert in the intellectual property field.”
Keynote speaker Ed Colbert, an IP lawyer at Kenyon & Kenyon and in-house IP expert on “The Colbert Report,” and representatives from the region’s legal community, including UPS and Georgia-Pacific, were among the guests who joined in celebrating the achievements of southern litigators and their firms during 2011.
The award selection was based upon peer review and research conducted by Benchmark’s research team from November 2011 to January 2012.
(SOURCE: Hall Estill)
