The firm has continued to expand its presence in Washington, D.C. with the addition of three more partners. Since prominent white-collar defense lawyer William Burck joined in January to co-manage the office with partner Jon Corey, the firm has added Derek Shaffer, Jeffrey Gerchik, and David Orta as partners.
Derek Shaffer has litigated a wide range of complex matters, particularly those involving governmental bodies and unsettled questions of constitutional and statutory law. Prior to joining Quinn Emanuel, Shaffer was a partner at Cooper & Kirk PLLC, where he was lead attorney or otherwise played central roles in many high-profile trial and appellate matters. To date, he has represented clients, including six States, before numerous tribunals, including the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. courts of appeals and district courts, state supreme courts, administrative tribunals and the NCAA. Shaffer graduated first in his Class of 1996 from the College of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. He then graduated first in his Class of 2000 from Stanford Law School as its Nathan Abbott Scholar, before clerking for Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg on the D.C. Circuit.
Jeff Gerchick is an intellectual property litigation specialist who has litigated scores of U.S. district court cases as well as International Trade Commission Section 337 investigations. He joins Quinn Emanuel from the Washington, D.C. Office of Kenyon & Kenyon LLP where he was a partner. Gerchick, who has an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Michigan, has litigated patent infringement cases covering a wide range of technologies, including wireless and wired networking, cellular mobile communications, computer hardware and software, consumer electronics, digital audio formats, and automotive technologies. He has represented consumer electronics and telecommunications companies such as Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (now Sony Mobile Communications), and Barnes & Noble, as well as automotive companies such as Toyota. Mr. Gerchick is co-author of one of the leading treatises on Section 337 investigations, Unfair Competition and the ITC.
David Orta is an international arbitration specialist, making him the third such international arbitration specialist to join the firm in the last nine months. He was previously a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Arnold & Porter LLP. Orta has represented clients in arbitrations under the auspices of many different arbitral forums including the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), UNCITRAL, the ICC and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR/AAA). Fluent in Spanish, he has been particularly active representing Latin American companies and countries in investment treaty and commercial arbitration disputes. He has also handled matters relating to Central and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. Chambers Global, Chambers Latin America and Global Arbitration Review have all recognized Orta for his international arbitration work. Orta also regularly participates in conferences and seminars on subjects of international law and has published in the field. He is affiliated with various arbitral associations and institutions around the world.
With these recent additions, Quinn Emanuel’s Washington, D.C. office has grown to 22 lawyers, including 8 partners.