Two Santa Clara Law alumni have made California Lawyer’s 2012 Attorneys of the Year Awards list: Niall McCarthy ’92 and Denise M. Mingrone ’87. The CLAY Awards recognize “attorneys across the state whose achievements have made a profound impact on the law” in 2011. The recipients of the CLAY Awards will be featured in the March 2012 issue of California Lawyer.
Niall McCarthy, of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, Burlingame, was lead lawyer for a whistleblower, and part of a team which secured the largest False Claims Act recovery in California history: a $241 million settlement from the biggest providers of medical laboratory testing for the state’s Medi-Cal program.
Denise M. Mingrone was part of a team of lawyers which first persuaded a federal jury to reject Mattel’s copyright infringement and trade secrets claim against MGA Entertainment in the long-running battle over the Bratz doll line—and then convinced jurors that Mattel was the party that engaged in corporate espionage against MGA, stealing its trade secrets at toy fair meetings. The jury handed down a sweeping judgment, including $88 million in damages. Although district court Judge David O. Carter shaved that amount to $85 million, he also doubled it by awarding punitive damages. With legal fees, the total award was nearly $310 million.
Congratulations to both alums!
