John W. Keker
Partner

Tel: 415.391.5400

Education:
Yale Law School, 1970
Princeton University, 1965

John Keker, who with his law school classmate Bill Brockett, founded Keker & Van Nest in 1978, is recognized as one of the top trial lawyers in the United States. In 2006, the National Law Journal recognized him as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the United States. In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle named him the best lawyer in the Bay Area. That same year, American Lawyer called him "a giant of the IP trial bar." In 2001, California Lawyer identified him as most named by other lawyers as the person they would hire if trouble strikes. Each year since 1998, he was named one of California's most influential attorneys by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He has been listed in every edition of Chambers USA and Best Lawyers In America in two categories, Criminal Defense and Business Litigation, and in Super Lawyers Magazine in intellectual property litigation. He was inducted into the California State Bar's Litigation Hall of Fame in 2002 and received the Significant Contribution to Criminal Justice Award in 1996 from the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Advocates, and the American Bar Foundation.

Cases include in 2005 representing Google against Microsoft in a high profile trade secret case; serving as trial counsel in U.S. v. Frank Quattrone in 2003 (hung jury) and in 2004 (conviction reversed by 2nd Circuit, 2006, reassigned to different trial judge then dismissed); in 2002 winning a jury trial for Genentech in a $300 million patent dispute with Chiron; in 2001, representing Cadence Design Systems, Inc., winning $195 million from Avant! in restitution for trade secret theft. Other notable cases: chief prosecutor, United States v. Oliver North, 1989, Iran/Contra Independent Counsel's Office, Washington, DC; defense counsel in United States v. Patrick Hallinan, (D. Nv. 1995); defense counsel in Ventritex v. Intermedics, listed by the National Law Journal as one of the top ten defense verdicts of 1992; plaintiff's counsel in Maglica v. Maglica, listed in the National Law Journal as one of the top ten plaintiff's verdicts of 1994, and plaintiff's counsel (with Robert Van Nest) in Xilinx v. Altera, (N.D. Cal.) one of the most significant patent trials of 2000.

John is a frequent lecturer on litigation to professional groups including the State Bar Litigation Section; National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Patent Law Institute; Securities Law Institute; Association of General Counsel; American Bar Association Litigation, White Collar, and Business Law Sections; California Continuing Education of the Bar; California Attorneys for Criminal Justice; Mississippi Bar Association; Nevada Trial Lawyers Association; Texas General Counsel Association; Hawaii Continuing Education of the Bar; and American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).

He is the author (with William A. Brockett) of Effective Direct and Cross Examination, California Continuing Education of the Bar.

Community activities include president, San Francisco Police Commission, 1996-1997 and 1991-2, vice president, 1989-90; vice president, San Francisco Fire Commission, 1988-9; chairman, San Francisco Bay Water Quality Control Board, 1981-3.; Chairman, Mayor's Summit on Crime, 2002.

John graduated cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs of Princeton University in 1965. He served as an infantry platoon leader in Vietnam while a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, until he was wounded and retired from the Marine Corps in 1967. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1970, where he was on the Board of Editors of the Yale Law Journal and was chairman of the Legal Services Organization.

After graduation, John served as a law clerk to Earl Warren, retired chief justice of the United States; as a staff attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC; and as an assistant federal public defender for the Northern District of California.

He has been married since 1965, to Christina Day Keker, a graphic designer. He has two grown sons and four grandchildren.