Morgan Chu

Morgan Chu, a leading intellectual property attorney, is presently Chair of the Litigation Group at Irell & Manella. Previously, he was Co-Managing Partner of for two terms from 1997 to 2003 (the maximum) and has been a member of its Executive Committee since 1985. He joined Irell & Manella as an associate in 1977, and became a partner in 1982.

He was lead counsel for the defendant in one of the “Top Defense Verdicts” of 2010, Linear Technology v. Novellus Systems, in which Irell secured a unanimous jury verdict in favor of Novellus on all of the plaintiff’s causes of action – including breach of contract and lack of good faith and fair dealing. Mr. Chu was also lead counsel for the alleged infringer in one of the “Top Ten Defense Verdicts for 2005,” Ultratech Stepper Inc. v. ASML, in which the jury found plaintiff’s patent invalid by clear and convincing evidence, and in Boole & Babbage v. Candle Corporation in the first trial involving a patent on computer software in 1986, where the jury also invalidated the patent.

Mr. Chu was named “The Outstanding Intellectual Property Lawyer” in the United States in the first Chambers Award for Excellence, in 2006. Chambers has described Mr. Chu as “beyond doubt the most gifted trial lawyer in the USA.” 

After earning his law degree from Harvard Law School, Mr. Chu clerked for the Honorable Charles M. Merrill of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.