Alison Tucher has a complex commercial litigation practice with an emphasis on intellectual property matters. She has handled patent cases for a variety of technology clients and a wide range of other commercial disputes.
Ms. Tucher's trial practice at Morrison & Foerster has resulted in numerous successes, some with precedential results. For example, in In re EchoStar, 448 F.3d 1294 (Fed. Cir. 2006), she successfully established the scope of work-product immunity for opinion counsel's papers in a patent case. For another client, she achieved dismissal of a false claims act case for the first time on Noerr-Pennington grounds. Ms. Tucher has led international patent litigation teams, and she litigates in trial courts and arbitral tribunals across the United States. She also serves on the Board of Governors of the Northern California Chapter of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers.
Ms. Tucher’s appellate experience began as a law clerk. She clerked for Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge William Norris on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
After clerking, Ms. Tucher tried 19 criminal cases to juries in Santa Clara County. Continuing in criminal law at Morrison & Foerster, Ms. Tucher has twice – for two clients in unrelated cases – won the freedom of a man wrongfully imprisoned for a murder he did not commit.
As a student, Ms. Tucher received Harry S. Truman and Herschel Smith Scholarships, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and served as Book Review Editor for the Stanford Law Review. Returning to her alma mater in 2010, Ms. Tucher taught Trade Secret Law at Stanford Law School.