Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm serving clients across the Americas, today announced that expansion of its Litigation Practice Group with Chicago partner Amy Doehring from McDermott and Los Angeles partner Ellen Robbins from Sidley.

“We continue to grow our litigation team with high-quality lawyers especially dedicated to serve the needs of clients across various sectors,” said Lawrence Rochefort, chair of Akerman’s Litigation Practice Group. “Amy and Ellen join our deep bench of trial lawyers and add important experience in complex commercial litigation and intellectual property litigation in key U.S. markets.”

Amy Doehring
A skillful trial lawyer, Doehring represents clients in a wide variety of complex litigation matters in federal and state courts across the country as well as in arbitration. Her legal practice focuses on the defense of clients in several industries such as healthcare, food and beverage, engineering, manufacturing, and insurance. She also assists corporate clients in disputes arising out of commercial transactions and advises trustees and beneficiaries in trust and estate controversies. Among her most notable representation, she secured a complete defense verdict on behalf of a chemicals and fibers producer against a breach of contract and fraud allegations seeking approximately $4 billion in damages.

Ellen Robbins
Robbins is a trial lawyer with extensive experience litigating in both state and federal court on behalf of public and private companies all over the world. She focuses her practice on complex commercial disputes and patent litigation. Her work includes commercial matters such as breach of contract, fraud, unfair competition, alter ego, securities law, product liability, class actions, insolvency, and misappropriation. Robbin’s experience also encompasses intellectual property, patent litigation, and handling several matters before the International Trade Commission. Among her most notable representation, Robbins served as trial counsel in five district court and ITC proceedings in the Microsoft/Motorola smart phone patent litigation, including a landmark bench trial setting a RAND royalty for standard essentials patents and obtaining a jury verdict for Microsoft in the district court proceedings. Following a federal court bench trial involving issues of alter ego and fraudulent transfer, Ellen secured a $40 million judgement for a Fortune 500 company that was affirmed on appeal.

Chicago and Los Angles are among Akerman’s fastest growing markets. The firm has grown the Chicago team from 8 to nearly 60 lawyers since the office opened in 2014, most recently adding litigation partners Sergio Acosta and Joel Bertocchi from Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, intellectual property partners Darrick Hooker from Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, Timothy Sendek from Lathrop Gage LLP, and corporate partner Robert Winner from Seyfarth Shaw LLP. The Los Angeles office has more than tripled in size in three years to nearly 40 lawyers. Recent additions in Los Angles include labor and employment partners Marissa Hurwitz Alguire from Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Steward, P.C., Michelle Flores from Cozen O’Connor, and Jeffrey Horton Thomas from Thomas Employment Law, P.C., as well as real estate partner Irán Hopkins from Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP.