Joe Grinstein, born Houston, TX; admitted to bar, 1997, Texas.

Joe Grinstein is a partner at Susman Godfrey and has been with the firm since 1998. Grinstein has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of matters, including intellectual property, antitrust, securities, contract, class action, insurance coverage, ERISA, probate, mass tort, and bankruptcy cases.

Grinstein represents clients in litigation matters of all stripes, but recently much of his practice has focused on patent and trade secret disputes. Grinstein has handled or is handling intellectual property cases against such defendants as Intel, Dell, Microsoft, AMD, Sony, TSMC, Google, Yahoo, Adelphia, Time Warner, and Comcast.

Some of the significant results in recent cases Grinstein has handled include:

In September 2007, Grinstein and a team of Susman Godfrey lawyers obtained a $30.5 million jury verdict on behalf of his client, UniRAM Technology, Inc., in a trade secrets case tried in federal court in San Francisco. UniRAM alleged that defendant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC) had misappropriated UniRAM's trade secrets regarding specialized computer memory devices known as embedded DRAM. Among other things, Grinstein handled both sides' damages witnesses at trial, and he cross-examined TSMC's principal technical expert. News of the verdict was reported widely in both the U.S. and Taiwan. The trial court has not yet entered final judgment on the verdict, nor have any appeals yet been filed.

In February 2007, Grinstein and a team of Susman Godfrey lawyers successfully defended Nevada Gold & Casinos, a publicly traded gaming company, in a suit brought against it by Rinaldo Corporation in Bakersfield, California, alleging tortious interference with contract and prospective economic advantage. The plaintiff sought more than $400 million in alleged damages. Grinstein argued two separate summary judgment motions for Nevada Gold, and between the two succeeded in dismissing all of the plaintiff's claims.

In April 2006, Grinstein and one other Susman Godfrey lawyer represented Nevada Gold & Casinos in a breach-of-contract trial relating to the development of a Native American casino in New Mexico. Following a three-week trial in Houston, the jury returned a verdict awarding Nevada Gold essentially all of the damages it claimed. In October 2006, after extensive post-trial briefing, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Nevada Gold and against the defendant, American Heritage, Inc., for over $9 million.

In 2004 and 2005, Grinstein and a team of Susman Godfrey lawyers represented MicroUnity Systems Engineering, Inc. in its patent infringement lawsuit against Intel, Corporation and Dell, Inc. MicroUnity alleged that Intel's Pentium III, Pentium 4, and Pentium M processors, and Dell's use of those processors, infringed several MicroUnity patents covering "mediaprocessor" technology. Grinstein was involved in all aspects of the case, including arguing the Markman hearing. In October 2005, one month before trial was to commence, the parties reached a confidential settlement of the case, the financial terms of which Intel disclosed in its Third Quarter 2005 10-Q. Articles discussing the importance of the case and the magnitude of the settlement appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, and various high-tech websites.

In 2003 and 2004, Grinstein and several additional Susman Godfrey lawyers tried two bankruptcy plan confirmation hearings In re The Babcock & Wilcox Company (three weeks of trial time) and In re Pittsburgh Corning Corporation (one week of trial time) --- representing the interests of Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London and Certain London Market Companies. Grinstein's clients settled the Babcock & Wilcox dispute, while confirmation of the Pittsburgh Corning bankruptcy plan remains pending.

In 2003, Grinstein won an appeal he briefed and argued to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit regarding the scope of ERISA plans' subrogation and reimbursement rights. The Fifth Circuit's opinion was the subject of a front-page article in the December 29, 2003, issue of The Texas Lawyer, in which Grinstein was quoted and pictured.

In 2003, Grinstein tried with one additional Susman Godfrey lawyer an arbitration involving claims against Service Corporation International under the Texas Securities Act. Grinstein's clients, James P. Hunter, III, and the James P. Hunter, III, Family Partnership Limited, won the arbitration and were awarded $27.8 million by the panel of arbitrators.

In 2002, Grinstein tried with two additional Susman Godfrey lawyers an arbitration claim brought by his client, Lyondell Chemical Co., against Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), involving the sale of MTBE. The arbitrator granted most of Lyondell's claims against ARCO, and as a result ARCO agreed to pay Grinstein's client an eight-figure net settlement.

In 2001, Grinstein obtained class certification from the Middle District of Florida for a class of African-American employees of Western Auto Supply Co. (now owned by Advance Stores Company, Inc.) who were suing the former auto parts retailer for racial discrimination. The defendants immediately appealed the certification decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Grinstein briefed and argued the appeal, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the class certification decision the first such class action the Eleventh Circuit had upheld in decades. The case settled in 2003, with the defendants making a substantial payment to the class.

Grinstein received a B.A. from Rice University in 1994, where he graduated summa cum laude. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1997. At Yale, Grinstein was Managing Editor of the Yale Law Journal, and he won the school's mock trial competition. His Journal note received the university-wide prize for best thesis relating to the humanities or religion. After graduating from Yale, Grinstein served as a law clerk to the Hon. Patrick E. Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Grinstein is a member of the American Bar Association, the Texas state bar, and the Houston Bar Association, where he served as the Chair of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Section.

EDUCATION

Rice University (B.A., Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1994)

Yale Law School (J.D., 1997)

HONORS & DISTINCTIONS

Managing Editor, Yale Law Journal (1996-97)

Law Clerk to the Honorable Patrick E. Higginbotham, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit (1997-98)

Chair, Houston Bar Association Antitrust & Trade Regulation Section (2006-07)

In 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, Texas Monthly and Texas Law and Politics magazines named Grinstein a "Rising Star" of the Texas legal profession, and H Texas magazine named him a "Lawyer on the Fast Track" in 2004 and a "Professional on the Fast Track" in 2005.

PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS

"The Mythology of Aggregate Corporate Knowledge: A Deconstruction," 65 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 210 (1997) (with Thomas A. Hagemann)

Note, "Jihad and the Constitution: The First Amendment Implications of Combating Religiously Motivated Terrorism," 105 Yale L.J. 1347 (1996)

"Exclusive Dealing, Loyalty Programs, and Bundling: The Plaintiff's Perspective," 2007 American Bar Association Antitrust Section Spring Meeting

"The Front Lines: Prudent Business Decision-Making in Light of the New Realities of Distribution," 2006 Conference Board Antitrust Conference.

"Evaluating the Competitive Effects of Exclusive Dealing Agreements: The Plaintiffs' Perspective," American Bar Association Tele-seminar (June 24, 2005) (reprinted in The Antitrust Source (November 2005))