Dueffert Gilbertsen PLLC

08/30/2024

Gratifying outcome in a recent Lanham Act case we defeated in the S.D.N.Y. After the magistrate judge recommended that our motion to dismiss false advertising and trademark dilution claims be granted, Judge Kaplan entered an order dismissing the complaint without leave to amend. 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90405.

06/11/2024

Had a wonderful time last week serving on faculty for a National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) program on trial skills. Pictured here with the venerable Judge William Jackson of DC Superior Court. It's both fun and rewarding to connect with some of the nation's best trial lawyers while passing along what wisdom we can to younger attorneys.

03/16/2024

Dueffert Gilbertsen PLLC is celebrating four years! When we launched the firm on March 16, 2020, pandemic lockdowns had just begun and we recognized a call to help people get through the crisis. During that first year, our clients included a local merchant whose shop was ransacked during social unrest, the family of a taxi driver murdered in a widely-publicized and unfairly-exploited tragedy, and a gym owner struggling to remain open under the city’s emergency guidelines.

Meanwhile, a focus emerged – somewhat by design – that we call our “professionals practice.” It is built to help professionals and related institutions meet a variety of legal challenges including corporate governance and transactions, internal investigations, employment, civil litigation, and government agency investigations and enforcement matters. Our clients include a global consulting firm, a major law firm, a large hospital system, as well as individual physicians and medical practices, C-suite executives, university professors and other research professionals, federal government officials, law firm partners, and association executives. Today we are grateful a hundredfold for the ongoing support of all our clients and friends!

12/22/2023

Wishing all of our clients and friends a serene holiday and prosperous new year!

Please click the image to view your ecard!

10/25/2023

Dueffert Gilbertsen PLLC sharing the love!

Google’s bare-knuckle outside litigation firm Williams & Connolly takes center stage Thursday when the Washington boutique tries to dent the US government’s antitrust case against the Alphabet Inc. unit.

06/09/2023

Having fun this week teaching younger lawyers courtroom work with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. A nice brief break from the push and pull of helping out clients in the real world.

05/13/2023

One of the best parts about being a litigator is constantly learning about new industries. This weekend we're touring a client’s food processing facilities in Iowa. It’s a fascinating business and it is weirdly fun to see how the sausages (or, in this case, frozen berries) get made.

04/13/2023

Tom and I started our law firm three years ago, at the very beginning of the pandemic. Remarkably we are still standing, and assisting an ever-growing pool of clients in litigation matters and other disputes. If you ever find yourself in a legal pinch, call us. If we can’t fix the problem, we’ll help find someone who can.

03/24/2023

In this day of rampant cynicism, one of the finer things about being a trial lawyer is that almost everyone involved takes these things seriously.

02/07/2023

Was able today to reconnect with an old client, Hall of Famer John Riggins, who I once had the honor to represent in an action over breach of contract and commercial misappropriation. The satisfaction one gets in helping people stand up for their legal rights is something that just does not diminish over time.

01/17/2023

Had a chance last week to go ice fishing in Minnesota. It was 5 degrees, foggy, and dark (the fish stick to a 6 pm dinner time). Lake was blanketed in a foot of fresh snow, making the trek a slog. The whole thing required tedious prep, strength, and loads of patience. Once underway, though, at any point you could find exhilaration. A bite!

In all, a deeply satisfying experience. And back home I realized it was like being a trial lawyer. Stay optimistic and you can find opportunities. Even when the environment seems frozen.

12/04/2022

Congratulations to my former partner at Williams & Connolly, Brendan Sullivan Jr., on being named “Lawyer of the Year” this weekend by the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.

Accepting the award, Brendan pointed to a career that began with his defense of detained Vietnam-era soldiers singing protest songs in the prison yard of the Presidio, conduct for which the military wrongfully accused them of “mutiny.”

Decades later, after his team secured dismissal of the conviction of Sen. Ted Stevens on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct, Brendan saw a picture of the senator’s young granddaughter smiling up at Stevens’ statute in an Alaska airport. This scene, he realized, would never have occurred had justice not eventually been done.

Brendan’s remarkably successful career has been driven by one thing -- a vehement intolerance for injustice. As an advocate and champion, he will always be one to emulate.