Overview
Ms. White has secured jury verdicts worth more than $100 million in past and future damages on behalf of plaintiffs, and led the defense of claims seeking billions. Serving as lead trial counsel
in dozens of high stakes and bet-the-company lawsuits, clients report that she “is incredible” and “a brilliant litigator,” a “fantastic leader and strategic thinker.” (Chambers 2023) Ms. White is often tapped to direct strategy and nominated to present on behalf of groups of multiple defendants, where she is described as “very effective at arguing complex motions” (Chambers 2023) and “by far the best lawyer we worked with” whose “diligence and talent won us a huge victory at trial.” (See additional client references below)
With a practice evenly split between plaintiff and defense-side engagements, Ms. White’s clients have trusted her to lead dockets of all stripes—with many client relationships dating back more than a decade. The National Law Journal identified Ms. White in its 2023 survey of Elite Plaintiff Trial Lawyers, for her back-to-back trial wins totaling more than $160 million on behalf of her clients in two cases involving intellectual property and complex breach of contract pending in Texas federal court and D.C. Superior Court, respectively. On the defense side, Ms. White has seen equal success, including a 2022 pretrial dismissal with prejudice of the lead plaintiff in a multi-billion-dollar environmental dispute in California state court, which settled favorably with court and Attorney General approval thereafter. She was also named “Litigator of the Week” by Texas Lawyer for defeating, before a Texas jury, a $22 million claim for tortious interference, while simultaneously securing a verdict for the full amount of damages her client sought on its affirmative claims.
Ms. White also donates a large portion of her time to pro bono causes, including helping to secure an injunction on constitutional grounds in a class action attacking unaffordable bail in the nation’s third largest county. Her role in the eight-day hearing that led to the win was covered by the National Law Journal, which reported that “the key was statistical evidence presented by Susman partner Lexie White…[who] demolished the other side’s case in the courtroom…,” and the case was also featured in an article entitled, “Don’t Mess With Texas, How Lawyers at Susman Godfrey Formed America’s Leading Trial Firm” (Lawdragon, 2017).
Ms. White was featured on the cover of Lawdragon’s 20th issue entitled “The Now, The 500 Leading Lawyers in America,” which included a profile on her career leading high-stakes trial teams in courtrooms across the country. You can read that interview here. She was named an Elite Woman of the Plaintiffs Bar by National Law Journal in 2023. She was also named one of The Best Lawyers of America in Patent Litigation and Commercial Litigation (2021-2024, Woodward White Inc.), and a Leading Patent Professional by IAM Patent 1000 every year since 2019. Ms. White has also been listed multiple times on Lawdragon’s annual “Lawdragon 500,” the publication’s list of the top 500 lawyers in America, including in 2018, 2019, 2020 2021, 2022 and 2023. She was also recognized on Lawdragon’s list of the country’s Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, and was included on Benchmark Litigation’s “40 and Under Hot List” in 2016, 2018 and 2019 (Euromoney PLC).
More than these accolades, Ms. White values the praise—some of which is excerpted below—of her clients, who increasingly call on her to handle their routine and their bet-the-company lawsuits:
Notable Representations
- Lead trial counsel for the defendant, the world’s largest battery recycler, in bet-the-company environmental litigation filed in California state court. Case resolved favorably with court and Attorney General approval in 2023, following dismissal with prejudice of the lead plaintiff’s claims. Ms. White was hired to represent the same client as lead trial counsel in separate plaintiff-side litigation against AIG, seeking more than a hundred million in contractual damages, penalties and interest arising out of AIG’s bad faith breach of the duty to defend. That case is pending in Nevada federal court.
- As lead Counsel to 3G Licensing (subsidiary of Sisvel International) and Orange (f/k/a/ France Telecom), secured a unanimous verdict from a Delaware federal jury finding that HTC Corporation infringed two asserted patents declared essential to LTE wireless standards. While HTC urged that damages should be limited to a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (“FRAND”) rate of less than two cents per device, the jury sided with SG and its clients – awarding 74 cents for HTC’s devices that infringed both patents. The jury also found that HTC’s infringement was willful, which would enable the court to treble the damages award. Read more.
- Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff, a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, in patent litigation against Ericsson asserting multiple patents related to telecommunications networks, infrastructure and related wireless technologies. Secured a jury verdict in 2022 worth more than $100 million in past and future damages. Ms. White was hired to represent the same client in similar litigation involving different patented technologies, pending in federal courts in Delaware and Texas.
- Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff, a privately-owned real estate company, in a contractual dispute with multiple Silver Point Capital affiliates. After trial in D.C. Superior Court, obtained ruling worth more than $60 million in damages and interest—plus the full value of the client’s attorneys’ fees—while also securing a take-nothing judgment as to $18 million in counterclaims brought against the client.
- Lead trial counsel for privately-owned internet marketing company in jury trial over competing claims of tortious interference with contract and Lanham Act violations. White obtained a jury verdict awarding the client’s full damages and finding that the other side should take nothing on its $22 million counterclaim. Ms. White’s work on this case was featured in the Texas Lawyer’s Litigator of the Week.
- Lead trial counsel for Boston-based technology licensing firm, Sky Technologies, in a successful $70 million patent licensing campaign involving litigation spanning multiple jurisdictions and defendants, including SAP, Siemens AG, and Microsoft. SAP settled for a confidential sum on the eve of trial, while another defendant settled in the middle of a jury trial in a federal court in Boston.
- Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff, an individual inventor-owned IP licensing company, in a successful $60 million patent enforcement campaign involving core wireless technologies used in mobile devices and Smart TVs. Ms. White was subsequently hired to take over similar enforcement litigation that had previously been filed by the same plaintiff in federal courts in Washington and Delaware. Ms. White was also retained to represent the client in litigation pending in a federal court in Texas against Google, Vizio, Nintendo and Roku, involving the same patented technology.
- Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff, a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, in a multi-hundred-million-dollar breach of contract dispute with the world’s largest mobile device maker. The case is set for trial in February 2024.
- Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff, a Texas-based industrial services company, in bet-the-company breach of contract, tortious interference and related commercial claims against Koch Industries. The case is set for trial in 2024 in a state court in Texas.
- Lead trial counsel for the plaintiff, a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, in high stakes cross-border patent litigation against the world’s largest mobile device makers, involving technology essential to various 3G and 4G wireless systems. The dispute resolved for a confidential sum a few days before trial. Ms. White was subsequently hired to represent the same plaintiff in Delaware patent litigation against other global handset makers, including HTC, LG, and Lenovo. Ms. White was also hired to represent the same plaintiff in litigation involving additional patented technologies against a series of global handset and chipset makers, which cases are pending in federal courts in Delaware, Texas and Florida.
- Lead trial counsel for investor-owned technology licensing company, in successful $100+ million patent licensing campaign related to LTE wireless technologies. The final case is set for trial in October 2023 in a federal court in Delaware.
- Co-lead trial counsel for the defendant, a major oil company, in a series of lawsuits filed by the State of Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, certain Louisiana parishes, and certain individual landowners seeking damages to Louisiana’s coastal zone allegedly caused by historical dredging and drilling operations. The cases are pending in various Louisiana state and federal courts.
- Lead trial counsel for the United States Professional Tennis Association in a lawsuit contesting the selection of the 2011-2013 President of the Board of Directors. Ms. White was hired after a Texas state court had entered a Temporary Restraining Order against the Association. Four days later, Ms. White cross examined the other side’s three witnesses for nearly seven hours, after which a Texas court ruled in favor of her client on all issues before it. The lawsuit was promptly dismissed.
- Lead trial counsel for two individual inventors in patent litigation against a publicly owned social-networking company. The case settled favorably for a confidential sum on the eve of trial.
- Successfully represented Milwaukee County and the Milwaukee County Pension System in a highly publicized actuarial malpractice trial against the largest actuarial firm in the country. The dispute involved allegations of professional negligence by Mercer, Inc., a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies. Mercer denies the allegations, but after two weeks of trial Mercer agreed to pay Milwaukee County $45 million to settle the case. The settlement is reported to be the largest recovery by a public government entity in Wisconsin history, and one of the largest recoveries relating to allegations of actuarial negligence in the United States.
- Successfully represented a consortium of approximately fifty nationwide health payors in lawsuits filed against a variety of defendants in state and federal courts in New Jersey and Louisiana. The complaints asserted state law claims against Merck & Co. arising in connection with the marketing and sale of Vioxx®, and asserted healthcare reimbursement liens against a $4.85 billion fund established to compensate for Vioxx-related injuries. In January 2009, the clients reached a groundbreaking settlement with the Vioxx Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, guaranteeing them certain payouts on their liens covering participating plaintiffs. The American Lawyer featured this litigation and its settlement in its “Big Suits” column.
- Obtained summary judgment for the plaintiff, a privately held energy company, in a lawsuit alleging that its insurer breached a duty to defend the company against litigation filed by a third party. The case settled favorably for a confidential sum shortly thereafter. Ms. White successfully concluded similar litigation on behalf of Nokia, Inc., after the Texas Supreme Court likewise decided in favor of Nokia and the duty to defend.
- Successfully defended and obtained take-nothing judgment on behalf of Texas energy company in a multi-million dollar arbitration proceeding arising from the packaged sale of certain Louisiana oil and gas properties. Additional details of the arbitration are confidential.
Honors & Distinctions
Honors and Awards
- IAM Patent 1000: Worlds Leading Patent Professionals (2023, 2019)
- Top 250 Women in IP, Managing IP' (2023, Euromoney)
- Recommended Lawyer: Commercial Litigation, Chambers USA (2023)
- Elite Women of the Plaintiff’s Bar, National Law Journal (2023, ALM)
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer (2023)
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigator (2023, 2022)
- Patent Star, Managing IP, IP Stars (2022)
- Recognized Lawyer, Patent Litigation, Best Lawyers of America ( 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and Commercial Litigation (2023, 2024) (Woodward White, Inc.)
- Recommended Lawyer, Dispute Resolution: General Commercial Disputes (2020) and Energy Litigation: Oil & Gas, The Legal 500 (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) (Legalease Ltd.)
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)
- Featured on the cover of and profiled in Lawdragon’s 20th Issue (2020)
- Lawyer Limelight Series (Lawdragon, 2019)
- Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers (Lawragon, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)
- 40 and Under Hot List, Benchmark Litigation (2016, 2018, 2019)
- Litigator of the Week, Texas Lawyer (ALM, 2017)
- Rising Star, Texas Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters, 2010)
- Professional on the Fast Track, H Texas Magazine
- First in Class and Executive Senior Editor of the Louisiana Law Review
Clerkships
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Admissions
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- Louisiana
- Texas
Publications
- Deterrence Economics and Transitory Prosecutors, 61 N.Y.U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 45 (2005);
- Paralyzing Discord: Workplace Safety, Paternalism, and the Accommodation of Biological Variance in the Americans with Disabilities Act, 63 La. L. Rev. 509 (2003)