Partner, Chair of Intellectual Property Practice
Ms. Wood’s practice focuses on civil business litigation as well as commercial arbitration, including copyright, unfair competition, antitrust, multidistrict, class actions, licensing disputes, securities, government contracts and various business torts. Ms. Wood also litigates employment cases in both state and federal courts.
Ms. Wood began her litigation career at Proskauer Rose LLP in New York City from 1986 to 1990. She then transferred to the Litigation department at its Los Angeles’ office. In 2001, Ms. Wood established Connon Wood LLP.
Highlights of Ms. Wood’s notable professional endeavors include:
- Successful resolution of a multi-million dollar government contracts dispute between a prime and subcontractor handling police training in Iraq and Afghanistan;
- Dismissal, with prejudice, of a representative action by independent contractors providing troop training for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan;
- Bi-coastal representation and favorable multi-million dollar settlement of the claims of a prominent hedge fund manager against his former partner;
- Representation of a government contractor in various disputes with subcontractors involving services on various military bases;
- Successful settlement for a manufacturer of a large mass toxic tort litigation involving groundwater contamination;
- Representation of a large retailer in a class action involving potential liability of approximately $2.5 billion dollars;
- Summary judgment in a contract action for a call service provider against a prominent electronics manufacturer;
- Successful resolution of a design patent infringement action in the automotive industry;
- Representation in an international tribunal involving foreign government expropriation of real estate assets;
- Obtained a preliminary injunction and summary judgment for copyright infringement and impoundment of distribution proceeds against a film distributor who violated an independent film producer’s license;
- Successful resolution of a copyright infringement action on behalf of a documentary filmmaker against an infringer who engaged in the unlicensed use of footage from client’s film in his own documentary on the same subject;
- Set aside collusive judgments in the U.S. and Mexico between a bank and the executor of a large estate on grounds of fraud, obtained a temporary restraining order and injunction, and seized purloined assets from the estate held in the name of an alter ego dummy corporation, and successfully enforced a prior judgment against those assets;
- Favorable settlements of wage and hour class actions prior to class certification;
- Worked with the US Government to defeat a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by a major newspaper on grounds of privacy and national security.