Douglas Hallward-Driemeier

Douglas Hallward-Driemeier is a Partner at Ropes & Gray LLP, where he leads the firm's Appellate and Supreme Court practice. His litigation experience, spanning over 110 appellate arguments including 19 before the U.S. Supreme Court, includes significant work in intellectual property matters, alongside administrative and constitutional law, bankruptcy, the False Claims Act, securities law, and antitrust. He rejoined Ropes & Gray in 2010 after serving over a decade with the U.S. Department of Justice, including as an Assistant to the Solicitor General.

In patent litigation, Mr. Hallward-Driemeier primarily represents defendants, as seen in his role for Keysight Technologies, Inc. in Centripetal Networks, Inc. v. Keysight Technologies, Inc. et al. This case involved patents directed to network security and threat detection technology, including methods and systems for efficient decryption. His involvement in such cases emphasizes his focus on the appellate aspects of patent disputes, often after initial proceedings.

His experience extends to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, handling appeals arising from Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decisions. For instance, in the Centripetal Networks litigation, he was involved in Federal Circuit appeals affirming PTAB decisions that found numerous patent claims unpatentable for obviousness or anticipation. He has also contributed to discussions on the constitutionality of inter partes review (IPR) proceedings.

Mr. Hallward-Driemeier earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he served as a Supervising Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He also holds an MPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and a B.A., summa cum laude, in Political Science from DePauw University.