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Morrison Foerster Welcomes Trio From Ellis George

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Law360 covered Morrison Foerster's addition of Dennis Ellis, Katherine Murray, and Serli Polatoglu to the firm's complex...

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Law360 covered Morrison Foerster's addition of Dennis Ellis, Katherine Murray, and Serli Polatoglu to the firm's complex litigation group in its Los Angeles office.On joining MoFo, Dennis said, "The firm's top-tier litigation practice, continued investment in Los Angeles, and long-term commitment to growing its presence in this important market, combined with its strength in handling sophisticated, high-stakes matters, make it an outstanding fit for our team and our clients."Dennis' practice focuses on representing clients on matters such as consumer class actions, business torts, product liability, environmental law, and breach of contract. Katherine's practice advises clients on matters regarding consumer class actions and business litigation in the food and beverage, cosmetics, and consumer electronics industries. Serli counsels clients on commercial litigation matters involving trade secrets, securities, intellectual property and business disputes.Read the <a href="https://www.law360.com/pulse/small-law/articles/2509595/morrison-foerster-welcomes-trio-from-ellis-george" target="_blank">full article</a>.

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Dennis Ellis is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Complex Litigation + Advisement practice group. He is a trial lawyer whose practice focuses on consumer class actions, unfair competition, business torts, product liability defense, environmental law, and breach of contract actions. Dennis has represented clients across a range of industries, including cosmetics and personal care products companies, major retail chains and companies in the petroleum, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing sectors. He has also written on product liability and judgment enforcement. He is the author of the practitioner’s treatise Enforcement of Judgments: A Practitioner’s Guide to Recovery and a Whittier Law Review article addressing attempts to recast product liability claims as fraud claims. Dennis is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America’s Trial Lawyer Honorary Society. He also serves on the Board of Visitors at Howard University School of Law and formerly served as general counsel and a board member of the Zeitgeist Community Learning Center. Dennis graduated from California State University, Fullerton in 1990, where he was a starting offensive lineman on the Titan football team. Before attending law school, Dennis served as a Jesse Marvin Unruh Assembly Fellow and later as chief legislative advisor to California Assemblywoman Carol Bentley. He graduated cum laude from Howard University School of Law in 1995. While there, Dennis was first runner-up in the Charles H. Houston Moot Court Competition, a member of the National Moot Court Team, and a member of the Howard Law Journal. <h4>Representative Experience </h4><ul><li>Has served as lead trial counsel for a major utility company in three separate cases, including one where he obtained a complete defense verdict in a three-month trial involving negligence and defamation claims arising from damage to a natural gas pipeline. </li><li>Defended consumer packaged goods companies in class actions nationwide, securing dismissals at the pleading stage and defeating motions for class certification. </li><li>Led the team representing New World TMT Limited in litigation against PrediWave Corporation, eight related companies, and its CEO. Obtained terminating sanctions and a judgment exceeding $2.8 billion, believed to be the largest judgment ever obtained by a Chinese company in a U.S. court. </li><li>Served as lead trial counsel for a major healthcare company in a three-month trial involving $16 million in claims brought by a preventive medical scanning company concerning allegedly malfunctioning equipment. The jury rejected the plaintiff’s theory and concluded that the plaintiff’s business failure resulted from industry conditions and its own management decisions. </li><li>Served as lead counsel for the claimant in a confidential environmental arbitration concerning unpaid response costs associated with an enforcement action by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. A three-judge panel awarded approximately $2 million in response costs, more than $650,000 in prejudgment interest, and more than $2 million in attorneys’ fees.</li></ul>

Dennis Ellis

Partner

Katherine (“Kathy”) Murray is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Complex Litigation + Advisement practice group. She focuses her practice on defending clients in complex business litigation, product liability and consumer class actions. Kathy has extensive experience trying jury trials to verdict and securing favorable outcomes for her clients. She has also litigated real estate, patent infringement, trade secrets, and business tort cases. Kathy’s clients span a wide range of industries, including food, cosmetics, and consumer electronics. She has also co-authored the practitioner’s treatise Enforcement of Judgments: A Practitioner’s Guide to Recovery. Kathy defends clients in cases arising under state consumer protection laws, including California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and Song-Beverly Credit Card Act. She has also handled matters involving federal environmental statutes, including CERCLA and RCRA. Kathy is heavily involved in her community and served on the Board of Directors of the Serra Project, one of Southern California’s largest providers of low-cost housing for people living with HIV/AIDS. She is also an active alumna of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where she served on the Board of Directors of the Law School Fund. Kathy earned her B.A. in Diplomatic History and Political Science, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, where she completed an Honors thesis, Cohesion in Crisis: An examination of U.S.-Latin American diplomacy in the months leading to and culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. She received her J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where she contributed to Writing and Analysis in the Law, 4th ed. She was also Editor of the Journal of International Law and Business and a member of the Latino Law Students Association and the Student Bar Association. Kathy is a native Spanish speaker. <h4>Representative Experience </h4><ul><li>Represented major food, cosmetics, and consumer electronics companies in nationwide and state consumer class actions arising under various consumer protection statutes, including California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and Consumer Legal Remedies Act. </li><li>Secured dismissal of a nationwide class action against a major cosmetics company that the plaintiff valued at $100 million. </li><li>Defeated class certification in an action brought under California’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act. The court found that requesting personal identification information violates the statute only when a consumer would perceive the request as a condition of using a credit card. </li><li>Represented the claimant in a confidential environmental arbitration concerning unpaid response costs associated with an enforcement action by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. A three-judge panel awarded approximately $2 million in response costs, more than $650,000 in prejudgment interest, and more than $2 million in attorneys’ fees. </li><li>Represented a California city in consolidated state and federal actions arising from contamination at the former Rialto Ammunition Backup Storage Point. The actions involved claims under CERCLA, RCRA, analogous state statutes, and common law. </li><li>Represented New World TMT Limited in litigation against PrediWave Corporation, eight related companies, and its CEO. Obtained terminating sanctions and a judgment exceeding $2.8 billion, believed to be the largest judgment ever obtained by a Chinese company in a U.S. court. </li><li>Won summary judgment for a multinational conglomerate in a breach-of-contract and fraud action arising from negotiations concerning medical device patents. </li><li>Advised and represented major lending institutions in judicial foreclosure and receivership proceedings. </li><li>Defended Taiwanese original equipment manufacturers in patent infringement actions across the country, including in the Eastern District of Texas, the District of Delaware, and the Western District of Wisconsin. </li><li>Served as the primary drafter of post-trial briefs that reduced a $52 million verdict to $6 million. The remaining judgment was subsequently reversed on appeal, resulting in a complete defense victory. </li><li>Helped prepare U.S. Supreme Court briefs arguing that the Ex Post Facto Clause prohibited the retroactive application of U.S. Sentencing Guidelines that increased the client’s recommended sentencing range. The Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in the client’s favor and reversed the appellate ruling.</li></ul>

Kathy Murray

Serli Polatoglu is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Complex Litigation + Advisement practice group. Her practice focuses on complex commercial disputes involving trade secrets, consumer protection, mass torts and intellectual property matters. She has represented clients across a range of industries, including personal care/cosmetics, food and beverage, energy, technology and real estate industries.  She also has significant experience in class action defense across industries. Serli earned her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where she served as an articles editor for both the UCLA Law Review and the Journal of Law and Technology. During law school, she also served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Sandra Segal Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and as a law clerk in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Serli is fluent in Armenian and Turkish. <h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Represents major cosmetics company in federal mass tort litigation and parallel state court matters in jurisdictions across the country, as well as a related consumer class action. </li><li>Represented major personal care products companies in nationwide and state consumer class actions arising under various consumer protection statutes, including California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and Consumer Legal Remedies Act.</li><li>Secured voluntary dismissal in putative consumer class action against prominent energy company alleging violation of privacy statute.</li></ul>

Serli Polatoglu

Complex Litigation + Advisement

Law360