Howard Rice Director Blake Lawit Selected for “Top 20 Under 40”

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – January 14, 2010 – Howard Rice Director Blake Lawit was recently featured by the Daily Journal as one of the “Top 20 Under 40” attorneys in California. The Daily Journal selected Mr. Lawit and others for demonstrating “exceptionalism at its best.”

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Lawit focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation and general commercial litigation, with an emphasis on copyright and trademark litigation. His recent work highlighted in the Daily Journal profile included:

• His protecting trademarks associated with J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit on behalf of client The Saul Zaentz Company. 


• His securing summary judgment and a permanent injunction forcing a wholesaler to cease using "Olympic" in its name on behalf of client the United States Olympic Committee. 


• His winning an emergency arbitration on behalf of U.S. Olympic swimmer Rebecca Soni. Hired just days before the start of the Beijing Games, Mr. Lawit successfully defended Ms. Soni’s right to swim in the 100-meter breaststroke, and Soni went on to win the silver medal in the event.

Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, P.C., is a San Francisco law firm with leading national and international practices, representing entities and individuals across a comprehensive range of practice areas. Our clients are among the most sophisticated consumers of legal services and include: The Charles Schwab Corporation; Citigroup; Clear Channel Communications; First Republic Bank; Genentech, Inc.; Google, Inc.; Hewlett-Packard Co.; Hitachi America, Ltd.; Morgan Stanley; The New York Times Company; The Oakland Raiders; PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.; Prudential Equity Group; The Regents of the University of California; Thomas Weisel Partners; UBS; the United States Olympic Committee and Wells Fargo & Company. For more information, please visit www.howardrice.com.