Fish & Richardson Principal Kurt Glitzenstein Named "New England Trailblazer" by AmLaw

Fish & Richardson principal Kurt Glitzenstein, who serves as Fish's Litigation Practice Group Leader (PGL), has been named a "New England Trailblazer" by AmLaw for his pioneering work developing cost-effective, winning litigation strategies using alternative fee arrangements (AFAs).

As PGL, Glitzenstein oversees all aspects of the firm's premier intellectual property and commercial litigation practices, which includes over 200 trial lawyers in 13 U.S. and international offices. As the chief architect and leader of Fish's AFA Litigation Committee, Glitzenstein reengineered Fish's litigation business structure and created a model for AFA best practices. AFAs currently represent more than 30% of Fish's litigation business. AFAs are tailored to clients' business needs, and as a result have enhanced many aspects of the lawyer-client relationship.

"Fixed fees arrangements encourage lawyers and clients to focus on the merits of the case and the client's business objectives from the outset, as well as what the potential cost-drivers are, and how they can be managed. That allows us to achieve the best result without unexpected cost fluctuations for the client," said Glitzenstein. "We are able to predict which cases will be more challenging and then educate client stakeholders about the case's likely direction because of our award-winning Litigation Legal Operations team. This triad of business units comprised of Pricing, Legal Project Management and Legal Knowledge Management teams collectively help our trial teams deliver efficient, cost-effective and value-oriented AFAs to clients who want us to share the risk of high-stakes litigation."

In 2009, Fish and long-time client Microsoft undertook an innovative fixed-fee approach to pricing patent cases that sought to create better client-firm partnership, value and outcomes. This was years before most law firms were thinking about AFAs. In 2017, Microsoft announced plans to move 90% of its legal work to AFAs within two years. By showing that it is possible to successfully price complex patent litigation cases using a fixed fee, Fish helped give Microsoft the confidence to move most of its remaining legal work to AFAs.

In addition to his PGL and AFA leadership roles, Glitzenstein maintains an active trial practice that includes a blistering schedule of patent trials and he serves as an elected member of the firm's Management Committee. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1993, his M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of California in 1990, and his B.S., Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988.