Laurie Webb Daniel, Appellate Attorney in Atlanta, Georgia

Laurie Webb Daniel is chair of Holland & Knight's Appellate Team. Based in Atlanta, she has appeared in appellate and trial courts nationwide, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Ms. Daniel is known for her approach to complex litigation, which combines the skills of an appellate advocate with those of substantive specialists at the start of the case to ensure that legal issues are well positioned for a favorable outcome – whether in the trial court or on appeal. As a result, in addition to handling appeals, Ms. Daniel routinely assists trial lawyers (at outside firms as well as her own) with high stakes litigation. Ms. Daniel has served as a commentator for CNN on Supreme Court arguments and on the faculty of many continuing legal education programs. She has served twice as chair of the American Bar Associations Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs. She also was part of the American Bar Association's "reading group" that vetted the writings of U.S. Supreme Court Nominee, now Justice, Sonia Sotomayor.

Representative Work

Ms. Daniel's appellate representative matters include the following:

• reversal of a $150 million jury verdict with judgment rendered in favor of client as a matter of law in case alleging defamation and negligence in testing of government contractor's work
• grant of rehearing en banc and vacating of an Eleventh Circuit panel opinion that imposed substantial sanctions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act; the en banc court held that client was not subject to any sanctions
• reversal of $8 million jury verdict in medical negligence and advertising case
• order granting post-trial motions after a $37 million jury verdict was entered against client on a trade secrets claim; district court granted a new trial and dismissed the plaintiff's related $16 million motion for attorneys fees
• affirmance of summary judgment obtained by Holland & Knight on behalf of subdivision developer in putative class action brought after live munitions were discovered behind the middle school serving the development, which was built adjacent to a World War II military practice site
• affirmance of dismissal of RICO claims alleging injuries from CARDS tax shelters
• Second Circuit opinion vacating a summary judgment against client based on an international treaty in billion dollar litigation arising out of a massive oil spill
• vacating ruling of FTC that client's "reverse payment" settlement of patent litigation violated the antitrust laws
• affirmance of multi-million dollar jury award obtained by Holland & Knight in favor of client in trade secret case
• reversal of $5 million jury verdict with judgment rendered in favor of client as a matter of law on predatory pricing claims
• reversal of $10 million jury verdict with judgment rendered in favor of client as a matter of law on fraud claim arising out of joint venture agreement between heavy equipment manufacturers