Ellisen S. Turner

I'll research this attorney before drafting.

Let me dig into the specific cases and outcomes.

Ellisen S. Turner — patent litigation practice summary

Focus areas. Turner is a partner in Kirkland & Ellis LLP's Intellectual Property Practice Group, based in Los Angeles, and serves as lead trial counsel on patent and trade secret matters. His firm bio and third-party rankings describe a technology-heavy docket spanning software and media/entertainment technology, telecom, semiconductors, and life sciences/biomedical engineering, with an additional emphasis on IP transactions, licensing, and standards-essential patent (SEP) strategy (Kirkland bio; Legal 500; Chambers). His two tracked cases fit that profile: Aon Re, Inc. v. Zesty.ai, Inc. (D. Del. No. 1:25-cv-00201) involves machine-learning patents for aerial-imagery property risk assessment, and Samsara Inc. v. Motive Technologies, Inc. concerns vehicle telematics and AI dashcam technology. Third-party rankings (World IP Review) also credit him with patent work for Gilead Sciences and Abbott Diabetes, though I could not independently verify the scope of those engagements. His technical background is as a former software engineer (AlliedSignal/Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM Silicon Valley Lab), which is consistent with the software/electronics orientation of his docket.

Side preference. Both tracked appearances are plaintiff-side — Aon Re (as plaintiff patent owner) and Samsara (as plaintiff asserting its patents and counterclaiming against Motive) — so the database shows a 2–0 plaintiff lean. That said, his own firm bio and Chambers note that he represents both plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes patent and trade secret litigation, so the tracked sample is too small to support a generalization that he is a plaintiff-only or NPE-side practitioner. On the evidence available, he reads as a general commercial-IP litigator for technology and life sciences companies rather than a repeat NPE/PAE plaintiff's counsel.

Firm context. Turner has been at Kirkland & Ellis since leaving Irell & Manella, where he was a partner and served as managing partner (he held that role for roughly a year before David Gindler succeeded him in January 2019, per Bloomberg Law). He is a California-bar practitioner (SBN 224842).

Notable matters and outcomes. In Samsara v. Motive, the results were mixed and should not be characterized as a clean win: the ITC investigation (No. 337-TA-1393) ended with a September 2025 ALJ determination of no Section 337 violation, and the Commission's February 2026 final determination upheld no violation (Motive press statements; ITC reporting). Separately, a February 2026 arbitration award reportedly went Samsara's way on non-patent claims (contract, fraud, false advertising) for $30.3 million, per Samsara's public filings. In Aon Re v. Zesty.ai, the court denied Zesty's § 101 motion in July 2025, holding the asserted AI-based property-risk claims survived Alice step two (D. Del. opinion, 25-201). Earlier in his career at Irell & Manella he was part of the TiVo enforcement team that generated the $215 million AT&T settlement and the $100 million-upfront Verizon settlement (American Lawyer/Law.com reporting), and Law360 recognized him for work helping Tessera obtain $170 million in damages and settlements. Claims in firm-supplied bios that his matters produced "billions" in client compensation are marketing language from the firm's own profile and are not independently verified here.

PTAB / IPR experience. He does appear in AIA proceedings. He argued as petitioner's counsel for B/E Aerospace in the consolidated IPRs IPR2014-01510/-01511/-01513, including the November 2015 oral hearing (PTAB records). In the Samsara matter, the Kirkland team filed an IPR petition in February 2025 against Motive's U.S. Patent No. 11,875,580 while the district court case proceeded.

Bar / education. J.D. cum laude, University of Michigan Law School (2002); B.S. in Computer Engineering and Computer Science magna cum laude, University of Southern California; admitted in California (2003).