Jeannie Heffernan

Jeannie Heffernan is an accomplished patent litigator specializing in complex intellectual property disputes. Her practice encompasses a broad range of technology areas, including computer networking, telecommunications, cryptography, semiconductors, medical devices, computer software and hardware, and agricultural equipment. She primarily represents operating companies as a defense-side litigator, consistently securing favorable outcomes against allegations of patent infringement. Her experience includes achieving numerous defense verdicts and significant summary judgments in federal district courts nationwide.

Currently, Ms. Heffernan leads Kirkland & Ellis's intellectual property litigation practice in Texas, operating from the firm's Austin office. Before relocating to Austin in 2021 to establish this practice, she practiced for 20 years in Kirkland & Ellis's New York office. Her notable case experience includes representing BritBox LLC as lead counsel in DISH Technologies L.L.C. et al. v. BritBox LLC, a patent infringement suit concerning video-streaming technology and adaptive bitrate streaming. She has also secured summary judgment of non-infringement in an encryption patent case, which was affirmed on appeal, and obtained a summary judgment ruling invalidating five patents related to agriculture data collection systems. Additionally, Ms. Heffernan successfully defended a telecommunications carrier against a patent assertion entity, achieving summary judgment of non-infringement that was affirmed on appeal. She has also secured victories affirmed at the Federal Circuit and at the International Trade Commission.

While her primary focus is on federal district court and International Trade Commission trials, Ms. Heffernan also addresses the strategic implications of inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, monitoring USPTO policy shifts to inform client strategies. She is admitted to practice in Texas. Ms. Heffernan earned her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 2002, and also holds an A.M. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.