Litigators must tell stories that engage and persuade, his firm bio reads
An intellectual property partner at a major American firm is finding success in writing thriller novels.
Joseph Reid, a San Diego, California-based partner at Perkins Coie, is getting worldwide attention for his debut novel, Takeoff, the American Bar Association Journal said. The San Diego Union-Tribune said that the book, which it called a “wild success,” has gained a global fan base.
The novel is about a private investigator who gets ambushed while accompanying a pop star to the FBI. In the summer, the book reached the top spot in the war and military fiction category on the Amazon First Reads series. It is the first book in a planned series.
On Perkins Coie’s website, the firm says that litigators must tell stories that engage and persuade as courts become busier and an increasing number of motions are decided on papers alone.
“Like the page-turning thriller novels he publishes in his spare time, Joe Reid writes briefs that capture the court’s attention: federal judges have praised his work as among the best they have read,” the bio reads.
Reid is a specialist in patent litigation, high-end prosecution work, and portfolio management. He has acted in matters before district courts around the US, the US International Trade Commission, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Reid’s website says that he has “spent an awful lot of time on airplanes and in airports,” which has inspired his novels. The senior lawyer writes “each morning before dawn breaks and the real world intrudes,” it says.
Perkins Coie is ranked 45th in the 2018 Am Law 200 by The American Lawyer. The firm, which has more than 900 lawyers, last reported revenues of US$786m and a profit per equity partner of US$1.17m.
