Linda Addison
Partner
New York
Houston

Linda L. Addison, a trial lawyer known by her peers as the lawyer to handle “bet-the-company” cases and member of Fulbright’s Executive Committee, has been named the Partner-in-Charge of the international law firm’s 140-lawyer New York office.

“Linda is a nationally-respected litigator and strong leader who brings the right combination of skill and experience to head our New York office,” said Steven B. Pfeiffer, the Chair of Fulbright’s Executive Committee. “She is a strategic thinker whose leadership will enable us to align further our firm’s historic strength in litigation, health care, energy and corporate transactions to assist our clients in New York at a time when the current global economic crisis is likely to result in increased demand for our experience in these areas.”

Addison succeeds William (“Bill”) Bush, who is retiring from Fulbright after more than three decades to join BDT Capital Partners, a merchant bank based in Chicago, Illinois, that will invest in and advise family and entrepreneurially controlled or influenced companies. Bill will serve as a founding partner and General Counsel of BDT Capital Partners, along with founder and managing partner Byron Trott, formerly of Goldman Sachs.

Addison, a leader of the firm’s litigation practice, has tried more than 50 cases to judgment as lead counsel. In her three decades of practice, she has tried cases ranging from complex commercial disputes to matters involving securities and banking issues to intellectual property cases.

Among them was her defense of the former directed trustee of the Enron 401(k) in the $1.7 billion Enron employee benefit plan class action cases, negotiating a $37.5 million settlement. In a closely watched patent infringement case, Addison was lead counsel in the jury trial for Mars, Incorporated in which she secured a $4.2 million jury verdict, and even more importantly, a permanent injunction ordering food giants Del Monte and Heinz to remove six infringing product lines from the market.

“Linda is an exceptional legal strategist and negotiator who is just as skilled at advising clients how to avoid the courtroom as she is at handling matters that end up there,” Bush said. “While best known as a first-rate trial lawyer, Linda also is a natural leader, whose skills I have seen firsthand and admired as we worked closely together on our firm’s Executive Committee for the past eight years.”

As part of a diverse litigation practice, which includes advising General Counsel, CEOs and corporate boards, Addison has handled numerous litigation and arbitration matters for New York and tri-state area clients.

“New York is a key office for Fulbright,” Addison said. “In recent years, we have grown our litigation and energy practices in New York to complement our historic strength and reputation in the corporate and transactional area. We want to ensure that our New York clients have access to the same in-depth industry knowledge and litigation experience for which Fulbright has been known since it was founded 90 years ago.”

Fulbright is recognized as a premier litigation and dispute resolution firm. Giants of the legal profession, including such luminaries as former Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski, have shaped Fulbright’s litigation practice over the firm’s history.

Addison is among those who have contributed greatly to Fulbright and the legal profession in general.

This summer, Addison will receive the American Bar Association’s prestigious 2009 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, which recognizes the accomplishments of lawyers who have achieved professional excellence and paved the way to success for other women. She will join a small group of esteemed women, including U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who have been presented the award named for the country’s first woman lawyer.

The daughter of two Holocaust survivors who immigrated to America in 1946, Addison spoke only Polish until she was five years old. After graduating from The University of Texas Law School of Law in 1976, Addison was determined to become a successful trial lawyer despite being told by many Texas law firms that litigation was not a suitable career path for women. Unwavering in her focus, Addison joined Fulbright because the firm promised her this opportunity. She made the most of it and many have taken notice.

Addison first achieved national prominence in 1984 as the lawyer who made it possible for Texans to shop on Sunday due to her challenge of the constitutionality of Texas Blue Laws.

The National Law Journal named Addison one of the 50 Most Influential Women Lawyers in America in 2007, and one of only 17 women among the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America in 2006. Lawdragon magazine, meanwhile, recently described Addison as “one of the nation’s smartest, most respected litigators, posing an intimidating presence in all manners of complex civil litigation.”