Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Languages

• French

Lawyer Overview

Joseph Evall is a New York litigation and intellectual property partner. He specializes in litigating patent, product liability and commercial cases that involve complex science and technology, particularly for the chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Representative cases include the following: Wyeth. Mr. Evall is a member of the Orrick litigation team that serves as national counsel for Wyeth in hundreds of product liability cases involving claims that childhood vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal caused “autism spectrum disorders” in some vaccinated children. Mr. Evall directs the team's efforts in connection with expert witnesses and scientific and medical issues, and was part of the trial team that recently prevailed in a Frye challenge to the credentials of plaintiffs' expert witnesses and the admissibility of their causation theories. In that case, following a ten-day evidentiary hearing, Judge Stuart Berger of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland, granted Wyeth's Frye motion in its entirety, precluding the testimony of all of plaintiffs' expert witnesses, and then granted summary judgment dismissing the case. Alcon Laboratories, Inc. Mr. Evall represented Alcon in three patent infringement cases involving Alcon's products for the treatment of glaucoma. Just before the trial of each case, the parties entered into settlements, pursuant to which Alcon may sell or continue to sell its products. Bayer Corporation. Mr. Evall won a one-week trial in California Superior Court in People v. Altaire, establishing that the presence of the preservatives thimerosal and phenylmercuric acetate in Bayer Corporation's nasal spray products did not create an obligation to include Proposition 65 warnings. This case was the first in California to establish a maximum allowable dose level under Proposition 65, and was the first trial win in a Proposition 65 case against the California Attorney General. Arvesta. Mr. Evall successfully defended this agricultural products company, formerly known as Tomen Agro, Inc., in a patent infringement lawsuit in the Eastern District of Tennessee. The asserted patent claimed a process for making a chemical intermediate used to manufacture herbicides. After a favorable ruling on an evidentiary Markman hearing, the court granted summary judgment of non-infringement. The patentholder appealed. Mr. Evall argued on behalf of Arvesta in the Federal Circuit, which affirmed the district court’s judgment. NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. Mr. Evall represented this non-profit organization on a pro bono basis in a number of lawsuits. The dismissal of libel claims brought against the organization was reported on the front page of the New York Law Journal. Another case, which was won on a motion to dismiss and affirmed by the Appellate Division, vindicated the rights of social services organizations in New York State to provide rape crisis services without fear of suit. Verizon. In Chaudhuri v. Bell Atlantic Corporation et al., Mr. Evall successfully defended Bell Atlantic Corporation and its cellular subsidiary against a putative class action challenging Bell Atlantic’s management of its cellular markets nationwide. Holding Tusculum B.V. Before joining Orrick, Mr. Evall, in Holding Tusculum B.V. v. S.A. Lewis Dreyfus & Cie, successfully represented the co-owners of the largest oil refinery in Germany in an eight-week trial before the International Chamber of Commerce. Other Counseling and Litigation. Mr. Evall formulated litigation strategy for patent-holders in several cases involving blockbuster pharmaceuticals, and in several cases involving genetically engineered crops and seeds. He has appeared before the International Trade Commission in litigation concerning screen printing machines for the semiconductor industry. He also defeated an Article 78 claim challenging a large service contract that was awarded to a telecommunications client. Before attending law school, Mr. Evall conducted research in molecular biology and in physical chemistry. One of his articles on self-assembled monolayers (JACS, 111, 321 (1989)) was recently featured as the 50th most cited paper from the Journal of the American Chemical Society's 125-year history. He served for seven years on the Board of Directors of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project and is now on the board of the Ali Forney Center, which helps homeless LGBT youth. At Orrick, Mr. Evall runs the firm's litigation training program. He is also the head of the Diversity Committee in the New York Office, Vice Chair of the firm's diversity committee in charge of LGBT diversity initiatives, and a member of the firm's Community Responsibility Committee.

Areas of Practice

• Litigation

Bar Admissions

• New York, 1991
• U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, 1991
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York, 1992

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Ali Forney Center (For Homeless LGBT Youth) (Board of Directors)
• New York State Bar Association (Committee on LGBT People and the Law)
• Association of the Bar of the City of New York
• University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (Dean's Advisory Board)
• New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, 1998 - 2005 (Board of Directors)
• Harvard Law School (Member, Board of Student Advisors)

Classes and Seminars

• "How to Prepare and Conduct Markman Hearings", Practicing Law Institute, New York (Topic: Claim Construction with an Appellate Perspective)
• "Litigating Patent Disputes", American Conference Institute, Washington DC and San Francisco
• PLI's "Beyond Diversity 101", New York

Past Employment Positions

• U.S. District for the Southern District of New York, Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, Law Clerk, 1992 - 1993

Education

• Harvard University Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1990
  J.D.
  Honors: magna cum laude
  
  Law Journal: Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, Book Review Editor
• Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1984
  A.M.
  Major: Physical Chemistry
• Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1982
  A.B.
  Honors: summa cum laude

Published Works

• "Court is Taking a Dim View of Best-Mode Defense: Federal Circuit Rulings Have Converted Analysis into Narrow, Quasi-Legal Inquiry", National Law Journal, November 11, 2002
• "Court is Taking a Dim View of Best-Mode Defense: Federal Circuit Rulings Have Converted Analysis into Narrow, Quasi-Legal Inquiry", Reprinted in the New Jersey Law Journal, January 23, 2003
• "Court is Taking a Dim View of Best-Mode Defense: Federal Circuit Rulings Have Converted Analysis into Narrow, Quasi-Legal Inquiry", Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Law Bulletin, February , 2003
• "Sexual Orientation and Adoptive Matching", XXV Family Quarterly, 347-379, 1991

Address

666 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10103-0001

Phones

(212) 506-5102

Faxes

(212) 506-5151

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.orrick.com