Joshua Lerner is a leading litigator who has built a technology-focused practice representing clients before federal and state courts and arbitral forums in complex commercial and intellectual property litigations, including trade secrets, class actions and contract disputes. Mr. Lerner has handled numerous high-stakes founder disputes. Mr. Lerner brings not only years of court room experience but also in-house experience to understanding and achieving his clients’ goals.

More specifically, Mr. Lerner has served as lead counsel in some of the largest trade secret cases in the country. He has brought and defended cases involving business torts, and has handled significant hardware and software related class actions. He relies on years of in-house experience in litigating large contract disputes. Mr. Lerner is also regularly asked to step in to defend against, or bring, temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions.     

Prior to joining WilmerHale, Mr. Lerner was a partner in the San Francisco office of another international law firm, where he served as chair of the firm’s Trade Secrets Practice and a member of its Intellectual Property, Employment and Labor and Litigation Practices. He previously was a partner at another firm for 10 years and before that, served as senior litigation counsel at Genentech. Over the course of his career, Mr. Lerner has taught business torts at University of California, Hastings College of Law. He also served as a vice president for the Federal Bar Association.

Recognition

  • Named Among the Best Lawyers in America® in Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property Litigation since 2012.  
  • Consistently recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a "Litigation Star" in the categories of Intellectual Property, Employment Law, General Commercial Litigation and Products Liability.
  • Ranked as an LMG Life Sciences Star in General Patent Litigation. 
  • Consistently featured in the Who’s Who Legal: Competition guide.
  • Named an IP Litigation Super Lawyer (2016–present) and a Rising Star (2011–2015) by Super Lawyers Magazine.

Insights & News

Credentials

  • Education

    • JD, University of California, Berkeley School of Law, 2001

    • BA, Reed College, 1998

  • Admissions

    • California

Credentials

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