Lexie White

Career

Ms. White is a partner with Susman Godfrey and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. She has secured jury verdicts worth more than $100 million in past and future damages on behalf of plaintiffs, and led the defense of claims seeking billions.

She was featured on the cover of Lawdragon’s 20th issue entitled “The Now, The 500 Leading Lawyers in America,” which included a profile on her career leading high-stakes trial teams in courtrooms across the country.

Ms. White was named “Litigator of the Week” by Texas Lawyer for defeating, before a Texas jury, a $22 million claim for tortious interference, while simultaneously securing a verdict for the full amount of damages her client sought on its affirmative claims.

Ms. White donates a large portion of her time to pro bono causes, including helping to secure an injunction on constitutional grounds in a class action attacking unaffordable bail in the nation’s third largest county. Her role in the eight-day hearing that led to the win was covered by National Law Journal, which reported that “the key was statistical evidence presented by Susman partner Lexie White…[who] demolished the other side’s case in the courtroom…”

Work Highlights

Lead trial counsel for the defendant, an innovative lead recycling and battery technology company, in novel, bet-the-company litigation brought under California’s Proposition 65.

Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff, a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, in patent litigation against Ericsson asserting multiple patents related to telecommunications networks, infrastructure and related wireless technologies.

Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff, Ancora Technologies, in patent litigation against Samsung and LG involving core wireless technologies found in hundreds of millions of accused mobile devices and Smart TVs. Both cases resolved confidentially a few weeks before trial, and shortly after Ancora prevailed on more than a dozen dispositive and pretrial motions. Ms. White was then hired to take over similar litigation that had previously been filed by the same plaintiff in federal courts in Washington and Delaware. Ms. White was also retained to represent Ancora in litigation pending in the Western District of Texas against Google, Vizio, Nintendo and Roku, involving the same patented technology.

Lead trial counsel for the insured, an innovative lead recycling and battery technology company, in bad faith and breach of contract claims against AIG. The case is pending in a federal district court in Nevada.

Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff, a Texas-based industrial services company, in breach of contract, tortious interference and related commercial claims against Koch Industries. The case is pending in a state court in Houston.

Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff, a mobile telecommunications company with customers and operations around the world, in high stakes cross-border patent litigation against Samsung and other mobile device makers, involving technology essential to various 3G and 4G wireless systems. The dispute resolved for a confidential sum a few days before trial, and shortly after favorable dispositive and pretrial motion practice. Ms. White was subsequently hired to represent the same plaintiff in litigation currently pending in a federal court in Delaware against other global handset makers, including HTC, LG, and Lenovo. Ms. White was also hired to represent the same plaintiff in litigation involving additional patented technologies against a series of global handset and chipset makers, which cases are pending in federal courts in Delaware, Texas and Florida.

Lead counsel for subsidiary of global LTE patent pool administrator, Sisvel, in patent litigation related to LTE wireless technologies. The cases are pending in a federal court in Delaware.

Lead trial counsel for the defendant, a major oil company, in a series of lawsuits filed by the State of Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, certain Louisiana parishes, and certain individual landowners seeking damages to Louisiana’s coastal zone allegedly caused by historical dredging and drilling operations. The cases are pending in various Louisiana state and federal courts.

Lead counsel for internet marketing company WickFire LLC in jury trial over competing claims of tortious interference with contract and Lanham Act violations. White obtained a jury verdict awarding the full amount of damages WickFire sought and finding that her opponent should take nothing on its $22 million counterclaim. Ms. White’s work on this case was featured in the Texas Lawyer’s Litigator of the Week.

Lead counsel for Boston-based technology licensing firm, Sky Technologies, in a successful $70 million patent licensing campaign involving litigation spanning multiple jurisdictions and defendants, including SAP, Siemens AG, and Microsoft. SAP settled for a confidential sum on the eve of trial, while another defendant settled mid-trial. All individual settlement amounts are confidential.

Lead counsel for the United States Professional Tennis Association in a lawsuit contesting the selection of the 2011-2013 President of the Board of Directors. Ms. White was hired after a Texas state court had entered a Temporary Restraining Order against the Association. Four days later, Ms. White cross examined the other side’s three witnesses for nearly seven hours, after which a Texas court ruled in favor of her client on all issues before it. The lawsuit was promptly dismissed.

Lead counsel for individual inventors, Amit Jaipuria and Pradeep Jaipuria, in patent litigation against LinkedIn filed in a Texas federal court. The case settled for a confidential sum.

Successfully represented Milwaukee County and the Milwaukee County Pension System in a highly publicized actuarial malpractice trial against the largest actuarial firm in the country. The dispute involved allegations of professional negligence by Mercer, Inc., a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies. Mercer denies the allegations, but after two weeks of trial Mercer agreed to pay Milwaukee County $45 million to settle the case. The settlement is reported to be the largest recovery by a public government entity in Wisconsin history, and one of the largest recoveries relating to allegations of actuarial negligence in the United States.

Successfully represented a consortium of approximately fifty nationwide health payors in lawsuits filed against a variety of defendants in state and federal courts in New Jersey and Louisiana. The complaints asserted state law claims against Merck & Co. arising in connection with the marketing and sale of Vioxx®, and asserted healthcare reimbursement liens against a $4.85 billion fund established to compensate for Vioxx-related injuries. In January 2009, the clients reached a groundbreaking settlement with the Vioxx Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, guaranteeing them certain payouts on their liens covering participating plaintiffs. The American Lawyer featured this litigation and its settlement in the “Big Suits” column of its April 2009 issue.

Obtained summary judgment for a privately held energy company in a lawsuit alleging that its insurer breached a duty to defend the company against litigation filed by a third party. The case settled favorably for a confidential sum shortly thereafter. Ms. White successfully concluded similar litigation on behalf of Nokia after the Texas Supreme Court likewise decided in favor of Nokia.

Successfully defended and obtained take-nothing judgment on behalf of Texas energy company in a multi-million dollar arbitration proceeding arising from the packaged sale of certain Louisiana oil and gas properties. Additional details of the arbitration are confidential.

Obtained highly favorable settlement on behalf of two South American pipeline companies in a lawsuit filed in Texas state court against their insurance brokers alleging negligent failure to procure contingent business interruption insurance. The amount of the settlement is confidential.

Experience

Former Judicial Clerk, U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Clients

“In a nutshell, over the course of 38 years as an attorney myself, and former International Legal Counsel for a Fortune 25 company with responsibility for managing many law firms over the years, Lexie White is among the very best – if not the best – I have worked with, anywhere.… This journey of bitterly fought litigation included 2 trips to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and one to the Supreme Court (cert denied)…. I don’t hesitate to recommend Lexie and her colleagues at Susman Godfrey. There are none better.” Read more here. — Jeffrey Conklin, CEO, SKY Technologies LLC

“By far the best lawyer we worked with, Lexie amazed us with her streamlined and efficient case management, saving us huge amounts of time and money as we ramped up toward trial…. Lexie’s diligence and talent won us a huge victory at trial…. I sincerely hope our business will never be such in a lawsuit again. But if we ever are, there is nobody I would ever trust it with but Lexie White and her team at Susman Godfrey.” — Chet Hall, CEO and Founder, WickFire

“I’ve been practicing law for over 50 years. Lexie White recently handled a case for me . . . . She had a short period of time to amass many facts, put them into a set of answering papers, and, finally, to win our case at a hearing, strictly on cross examination. She did a superb job, and I unhesitatingly recommend her legal services in any matter you may have. She is easily on a par with the best lawyers I have ever dealt with.” — Paul Waldman, GC, U.S. Prof. Tennis Association

Awards