Winston & Strawn LLP is pleased to announce that Esha Bandyopadhyay and Nimalka Wickramasekera have joined the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice as partners in the Silicon Valley and Los Angeles offices, respectively. Esha joins the firm from Turner Boyd and Nimalka from Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where she and Esha previously worked together.
“When I joined Winston, my goal was to expand and strengthen our West Coast team in a purposeful way to provide the best service to clients and the industry as a whole,” said Kathi Vidal, the firm’s Silicon Valley managing partner. “I’m looking forward to teaming with Esha and Nimalka, both of whom are strong and successful women in IP and patent litigation, to achieve those objectives.”
“We are thrilled to have these two talented partners join our West Coast team and further enhance our intellectual property capabilities,” said Eric Sagerman, Winston’s Los Angeles managing partner. “Both Esha and Nimalka bring impressive experience and capabilities that greatly complement the work we are doing across the state.”
Esha has been practicing intellectual property and technology-related commercial litigation and counseling for close to two decades. Her practice focuses primarily on complex patent disputes, in which she has obtained verdicts of patent invalidity, achieved jury verdicts in the millions, and recovered millions in settlements – in technologies ranging from computer hardware to wireless standards to anti-virus and encryption software to medical devices. Esha also has substantial experience with trade secret disputes, and has litigated numerous copyright, trademark, Internet, and false advertising matters.
Nimalka focuses on patent, trade secret, and commercial litigation in the telecommunication, computer hardware, healthcare, medical device, and biotechnology industries. She has significant stand-up courtroom experience and has represented clients before district courts, the ITC, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
Esha received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. At the age of 18, she earned a B.A. in economics, summa cum laude, from the University of California, San Diego.
Nimalka received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the John Marshall Law School, where she served on the John Marshall Law Review. She earned a B.S. in molecular, cell, and developmental biology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
“It was clear to me that Winston is the best platform to further develop my practice,” said Esha. “Nimalka and I successfully litigated several patent litigation matters together during our time at Kirkland. I am thrilled to be reunited with her at Winston.”
“We’re eager to work together again and collaborate with the rest of the West Coast team,” added Nimalka.
Esha and Nimalka are two of 16 female partners Winston has hired in 2017. Leadership, diversity, and inclusiveness are core values at Winston. For example, in 2013, the firm launched the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI), whose mission is to invest in the success of female attorneys at the firm by providing training, visibility, and opportunities to contribute. The firm’s industry-leading initiatives focused on the hiring, advancement, retention, and promotion of female attorneys was recently recognized with the Chambers USA 2017 Women in Law Awards for “Outstanding Firm in Advancing Gender Diversity and Inclusion” and the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance’s 2017 Flex Impact Award.
Source: www.winston.com
