Keker, Van Nest & Peters has been named the 2017 Litigation Department of the Year by The Recorder. The firm also won top honors in the intellectual property category, while John Keker and Robert Van Nest both won individual awards for their litigation victories. According to the publication, "the awards recognize law firms whose California litigators have delivered outstanding service—and wins—for their clients in the year's most demanding litigation matters." 

Litigation Department of the Year: Keker, Van Nest & Peters scored blockbuster defense wins for Google and Arista Networks Inc. in closely watched intellectual property trials, and secured a nationwide injunction barring President Donald Trump's administration from enforcing its threat to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities. It also displayed overall excellence in antitrust, consumer class actions, IP and labor and employment.

Intellectual Property: Keker, Van Nest & Peters scored an IP trial win for Google against rival Oracle and then served up an encore by besting Cisco for Arista Networks Inc. It flipped a $14 million patent loss by winning a new trial for Pure Storage Inc. with rival EMC Corp., then helped reach a global settlement to end the parties' patent battle.

Groundbreaker: Robert Van Nest of Keker, Van Nest & Peters for scoring Arista Networks Inc.'s copyright defense win under the "scènes à faire" doctrine.

Giant Slayer: John Keker of Keker, Van Nest & Peters won a nationwide injunction for the County of Santa Clara blocking the president's executive order stripping all federal funding from local governments across the country deemed "sanctuary jurisdictions."