Partners Justin Nelson, Davida Brook and Chanler Langham have been featured on Forbes’ annual list of America’s Top Lawyers. This year’s list recognized 250 attorneys nationwide who are, “a master class on what it means to be at the forefront of innovation, execution and success” and have “distinguished themselves through notable deals and transactions, impressive trial work, wise counsel, respect from colleagues, arbiters and clients.”
In its introduction, Forbes specifically mentions Nelson, who it refers to as having created a specialized practice around AI and as a “go-to AI litigator.” Nelson is recognized for his work on the $787.5 million Dominion Voting Systems defamation settlement with Fox News and his recent appointment as Interim Lead Class Counsel for the In re: OpenAI Copyright Infringement MDL, one of the first major AI-related class actions
Brook is twice-recognized by Forbes this year: on this America’s Top Lawyers list and on its recent Best In-State Lawyers list. Serving as co-lead counsel to the New York Times, in late 2023 Ms. Brook filed a groundbreaking copyright infringement action against Microsoft and OpenAI alleging that the companies illegally used millions of its articles to train ChatGPT. The SDNY has since appointed Brook to serve as liaison to all news plaintiffs challenging these same practices. Even more recently, in another first of its kind case, Brook has filed an antitrust suit on behalf of Penske Media Corporation against Google, marking the first time a major U.S. publisher has challenged Google over its use of AI-generated summaries. Brook was also co-lead counsel in Dominion’s $787.5 million Fox News deal and continues to prosecute parallel defamation suits for Dominion, defeating every motion to dismiss to date.
In its profile of Langham, Forbes includes his Mentor of the Year honor by American Lawyer and role as a trustee at Huston-Tillotson University. Langham was also a key player on the team that secured a $40 million jury verdict against Beats by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine and recently obtained a $21 million class action settlement against Cengage Learning. He previously served as a federal law clerk to Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore on the Southern District of Texas and is also fluent in Japanese.
Forbes selected these “elite practitioners demonstrate loyalty, capability and leadership in the law—suited up and, if needed, ready for battle” through a “rigorous, multi-stage process of researching, evaluating and rating thousands of candidates through nominations, direct outreach, recommendations and editorial review.”
