Partner, White & Case LLP
Yar R. Chaikovsky is a leading intellectual property trial lawyer at the firm based in the Palo Alto office. He is chair of its Global Intellectual Property practice group and a partner in the Global Technology Industry Group. For seven years (2015-2021), he led the Paul Hastings’ Intellectual Property Litigation practice as its Global Co-Chair. He serves as lead trial counsel for some of the most preeminent global technology companies in their most important matters. These matters often involve co-pending actions in US District Courts, before agencies such as the USPTO PTAB and USITC, and include foreign tribunals while being frequently litigated through the trial and post-trial phases. His success has led him to be accepted as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and to be praised by numerous leading publications as one of the nation’s top intellectual property trial lawyers. Mr. Chaikovsky was Yahoo’s first head patent counsel. Before practicing law, he was an engineer in the missile systems defense department of Hughes Aircraft Company.
He has been recognized by IAM Patent 1000 as a “Charismatic top-tier trial lawyer” and a “dynamite trial lawyer who never lacks for a convincing story to tell” and “when it comes to gutting a plaintiff’s damages theory, challenging validity on Section 101 grounds and drawing lines in the sand, he does it all brilliantly.” “He keeps himself up to date on everything and doesn’t just give you the textbook options when someone sues you.” He was singled out as a “trial attorney who scored big” and “demonstrated a track record of success” due to his trial preparation and presentation when The National Law Journal named him a “Winning Litigator.” Benchmark Litigation also recognized Mr. Chaikovsky as a finalist for Intellectual Property Litigator of the Year and a National Litigation Star, while calling him “a hell of a lawyer and has some ‘buzzy star power’ about him.” Intellectual Asset Management notes that he “communicates exceptionally well and doesn’t let technical jargon dominate his arguments and thinking. He is a talented trial lawyer who deserves high recognition.” He is lauded by Chambers for being a “very sharp and detail-oriented litigator” with an “assertive, thorough and thoughtful approach” to litigation, in addition to having an “ability to adopt the viewpoint of in-house counsel” in order to best achieve client objectives. The National Law Journal also named Mr. Chaikovsky as one of its Intellectual Property Trailblazers where he was identified as being “a thought leader in patent litigation in the United States” due to “his innovative trial work protecting corporations using aggressive litigation strategies.”