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Overview

Julien Adams is a partner in the firm.  His practice covers a broad range of business litigation areas, including entertainment litigation, intellectual property litigation, and complex commercial litigation.

Julien is a graduate of UC Berkeley School of Law (J.D., 1991) and the University of Southern California (B.A., 1988).  Julien started his career in Los Angeles practicing complex commercial litigation at O’Melveny & Myers and then at Kaye Scholer.

In 1995, Julien left private practice to become a prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s office in Los Angeles and then in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.  There he worked in the government fraud and public corruption section, where he successfully tried 21 jury trials and prosecuted a variety of complex white-collar criminal cases.  Julien received commendations from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Julien then returned to private practice, joining Dovel & Luner in 2001 and becoming a partner the next year.

Education

  • University of California, Berkeley (J.D., 1991)
  • University of Southern California (B.A., 1988)

Prior Associations

  • United States Attorney’s Office
  • Kaye Scholer
  • O’Melveny & Myers

Notable Cases

Represented Beneficial Innovations, an inventor-owner licensing company with early patents covering fundamental aspects of online advertising, in a series of patent infringement actions.  Our team obtained favorable Markman and dispositive rulings and negotiated more than two dozen favorable settlements.

Represented Thermapure, Inc. in a patent infringement action against Water Out Drying Corp.  The patent claimed a method of sanitizing contaminated structures (for example, homes, offices, or schools) that had flood damage or had developed mold or other toxins.  In March 2009, the Marshall, Texas, jury returned a verdict of infringement and rejected all invalidity defenses.

Represented StorMedia Texas LLC, the owner of a portfolio of patents relating to storage media, in a patent infringement action against the major manufacturers of hard drives.  The matter was settled with each defendant on confidential terms.

Represented the inventor of an herbal composition widely used to treat patients with prostate cancer in a patent infringement action against several manufacturers of the product.

Represented a building cost valuation company in a copyright infringement action against one of its principal competitors.  Dovel & Luner’s client had spent several years developing cost data and the methodology to allow residential appraisers to complete cost approach valuations for any site-built or manufactured home.  The method is the basis of the client’s detailed and comprehensive proprietary handbook and software and is considered the authoritative model in the industry.  The client discovered that a major competitor had obtained and internally reproduced its handbook without authorization.  Shortly before trial, we settled the case with Defendant [Marshall & Swift] agreeing to license the client’s product.

Represented a writer/director in an action against his former business associates.  The defendants provided technical and postproduction support to the firm’s client during the making of his award-winning film.  Before the film had even been released in theaters, the defendants had already developed and sold, without the client’s knowledge or authorization, a derivative television series which went on to achieve great success.  Julien brought suit, alleging breach of fiduciary duty and unfair competition.  The case went before a mediator and later settled.

Represented computer manufacturer E-Machines in a breach of contract case relating to their innovative “hot button” computer keyboards.  The defendant, an online financial services provider, had contracted with E-Machines to have its own “hot button”—a one-touch button that brings the computer user immediately to their website—placed on several hundred thousand of E-Machines’ keyboards.  E-Machines made the keyboards, the defendants failed to fully pay.  Julien brought suit and successfully negotiated a favorable settlement for the client despite the fact that the defendant’s assets were quickly dissipating and it soon went out of business.

Represented International Business Group in a multimillion-dollar breach of contract suit against Danaher Corporation, a Washington, D.C. based Fortune 500 company, arising out of Danaher’s breach of an agreement to sell its electronic voting machines business shortly after the 2000 federal election controversy.  The case was successfully settled while the federal jury was deliberating.

Personal Facts

  • Julien was born and raised on a Caribbean island that is only 31 square miles.
  • Julien did not fly on a commercial airplane before the age of 18.
  • Julien’s dream job is to become a Major League umpire.
  • Julien does not enjoy eating most foods.

Joining Dovel & Luner

I first met Greg Dovel as a young associate at Kaye Scholer.  At that time, I knew that I wanted to be a trial lawyer; not a litigator, but a trial lawyer.  And for the first time in my young career I saw in Greg someone who not only articulated that goal, but who worked hard to achieve it as well.  My time at Kaye Scholer was short.  After two years I moved on to take a position as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California.  In the six years I spent in the position, both in Los Angeles and for a brief time in the US. Virgin Islands, I learned many valuable things, including skills that set me along the path of truly understanding what it meant to be a trial lawyer.  But most importantly, my time as an Assistant United States Attorney allowed me to understand what I truly cherished in the practice of law:  striving for the truth.

After spending those six years at the USAO and looking for a new place to work in the private sector, I again crossed paths with Greg who had since formed Dovel & Luner with Sean.  In both, I found lawyers who had a philosophy and business model centered around striving for the truth and knew that this was the firm where I wanted to be a partner.

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