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Joan M. Griffin is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Firm’s Boston office. As a member of the Intellectual Property, Media & Technology Department, Joan focuses her practice on intellectual property and business litigation for science and technology companies in a range of fields including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, chemistry and computer science.
Joan has tried more than 30 civil and criminal cases, including patent infringement and trademark, trade secret and licensing disputes, white-collar crime and a variety of federal offenses. She appears frequently on New England Cable Network News (NECN), providing analysis of high profile cases. In her criminal practice, Joan earned national recognition for bringing the first successful challenge to the scientific basis of expert ballistics evidence. She presents at conferences nationwide on challenging forensic evidence. Joan has also arbitrated cases before the American Arbitration Association and has served as an arbitrator for commercial disputes.
Joan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Rya Zobel in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. She received her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1986 and her B.S., summa cum laude, in Engineering Sciences (Chemical) from Yale University in 1983.
Joan is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and serves as a judge of the ecclesiastical trial court for the Episcopal Diocese of Boston.
Representative Experience:
Representation of a leading global developer and manufacturer of contact lenses in two patent suits involving five extended-wear silicone-hydrogel contact lens patents
Representation of the largest provider of medical malpractice liability insurance in New England in a declaratory judgment suit successfully obtaining immediate withdrawl of claim for breach of a software license agreement
Representation of a multinational developer and manufacturer of medical lasers and light-based technologies in two patent suits involving lasers used for hair removal and treatment of skin disorders
Representation of a medical diagnostic company in a patent infringement jury trial involving multiple patents for pregnancy test devices resulting in purchase of company's business divisions by plaintiff
Representation of an inventor of new generation cancer therapy at a seven day AAA arbitration establishing the inventor’s control over prosecution of licensed patents and the company’s obligation to commercialize the drug or risk termination of the license and return of the technology to the inventor
Representation of a medical equipment manufacturer in a case involving novel issues of trademark law successfully defending against allegations of wrongful termination of a national distributorship agreement at a 12-day hearing
Education:
Harvard Law School, J.D. (cum laude), 1986
Yale University, B.S. (summa cum laude), 1983 | 