John O'Quinn

John C. O'Quinn is a prominent patent litigator and appellate specialist, currently a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice primarily focuses on intellectual property disputes at both the trial and appellate levels, with particular emphasis on appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, where he has argued over 60 patent appeals. With a background as a trained engineer, O'Quinn handles complex patent cases across diverse technology areas, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, software, and other high-technology sectors.

O'Quinn demonstrates a balanced practice, representing both patent owners and defendants in intellectual property matters. While the provided case list shows one plaintiff-side appearance, his broader experience includes successfully arguing for reversals of infringement findings for defendants and upholding patent validity for patentees. He is noted for securing a $371 million damages award for C.R. Bard Inc. in a patent infringement suit concerning a prosthetic blood vessel graft. Other significant outcomes include successfully obtaining three reversals of PTAB decisions for PACT v. Intel Corp., securing the first-ever precedential Federal Circuit opinion on Twombly/Iqbal pleading standards for direct infringement in BotM8 v. Sony, and arguing for reversal of a district court decision invalidating BASF's patent.

His practice includes substantial experience with post-grant proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), having been involved in appeals from at least 50 IPR proceedings. For instance, he obtained a rare remand from the Federal Circuit to the PTAB regarding an obviousness finding in In re Warsaw Orthopedic.

Prior to rejoining Kirkland & Ellis, where he was initially an associate from 2003 to 2006, O'Quinn served in the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006 to 2009 as Deputy Associate Attorney General and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Federal Programs Branch. He graduated first in his class from Harvard Law School (J.D., 2001) and holds master's degrees from MIT (M.S., 1998) and Oxford University (M.Sc., 1997), following his undergraduate studies at NCSU (B.S., 1996).