(San Francisco, Calif., 03/01/2023) – Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP, a boutique trial firm based in San Francisco, is delighted to announce the appointment of Laurie Carr Mims to Managing Partner. She succeeds Steven K. Taylor, who has served as Managing Partner of the firm since 2013 and who will continue to focus his law practice on high-stakes commercial and financial services litigation.
“It has been a wonderful honor to serve as the Managing Partner of Keker, Van Nest & Peters. Laurie has agreed to take on the role with the partnership’s full and loud support,” Steve Taylor said. “Laurie pours her heart and soul into this firm. She’s respected and revered by her colleagues and clients alike, and there’s no better individual to lead our strategic growth, while working to maintain the culture of our firm.”
During Steve Taylor’s tenure, Keker, Van Nest & Peters has increased its revenues by more than 80%, has grown from 79 lawyers in 2013 to 115 lawyers to date, and has expanded its San Francisco office space by approximately 40,000 square feet. The firm has taken nearly 60 cases to decision in trials or arbitrations during the past decade and has dedicated on average 7% of its billable time annually to pro bono efforts.
“The past few years have brought unprecedented challenges to the business and legal communities, and our firm was no exception. Steve was instrumental in leading our pandemic response and policies, navigating our return to office, and re-committing our firm to its diversity goals. He is bookending his time as Managing Partner with our most financially successful year on record,” said Laurie Carr Mims. “The firm is truly grateful for his leadership and dedication, and I feel privileged to build upon his outstanding work.”
Since joining Keker, Van Nest & Peters in 2005, Ms. Mims has made vital contributions to the firm’s success in litigating complex commercial matters, particularly in the life sciences sector, and spearheading the firm’s contingency practice, which has recovered hundreds of millions in awards for the firm’s clients. Ms. Mims’s recent accomplishments include representing Veeva Systems in obtaining a rare judgment as a matter of law mid-trial that dismissed a $450 million trade-secret misappropriation case concerning clinical trial software. She also served as lead trial counsel, winning an $80+ million post-merger dispute in Delaware Chancery Court for her client Shareholder Representative Services, on behalf of the former shareholders of drug developer FerroKin Biosciences. Ms. Mims also successfully represented Genentech as the victim of a massive trade secret theft by its former scientists who founded JHL Biotech to develop biosimilar versions of Genentech’s cancer treatments. On the pro bono front, in partnership with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Ms. Mims recently led a team that secured a preliminary injunction barring Bad Boys Bail Bonds from collecting on $38 million of debt from unsuspecting bail bond co-signers.
“Laurie is an incredibly talented lawyer and a proven leader,” Keker, Van Nest & Peters partner Elliot Peters, said. “She possesses a rare combination of sound judgment, dedication, and empathy that will serve her well as she leads the firm to continued success. Her commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in our profession and to ensuring that we provide excellent client service, while fostering the development of the next generation of trial lawyers, is unmatched.”
Ms. Mims also plays an important role in Keker, Van Nest & Peters’s leadership. Prior to her appointment as Managing Partner, she served on the firm’s Management Committee, Compensation Committee, and as chair of its Attorney Development and Training Committee. She has been named among Law360’s Life Sciences MVPs, a Top Trade Secret Lawyer by The Daily Journal and a California Trailblazer by The Recorder. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Mims served as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and as an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP. She earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her undergraduate degree from Duke University. Ms. Mims lives in Pleasant Hill with her husband and three sons.
About Keker, Van Nest & Peters
For more than 40 years, Keker, Van Nest & Peters has litigated complex, high-stakes civil and criminal cases throughout the nation. The firm takes the cases where companies, products, and careers are riding on the result. Our clients are high-profile individuals, as well as some of the world’s most successful companies, including Genentech, Google, Instacart, Lyft, Major League Baseball, Meta, Netflix and Qualcomm. The firm’s areas of expertise include intellectual property, professional liability, class actions, general contract and commercial litigation, antitrust, white collar, and appellate.