Our runner-up this week is the team from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr that got an appellate affirmance of the firm’s trial win protecting Harvard University’s race-conscious admissions system. First Circuit Judge Sandra Lynch wrote that the plaintiffs’ “contention that Harvard elevates racial diversity above other types of diversity is not supported by the evidence” and that “Harvard’s use of race in admissions is contextual and it does not consider race exclusively.” Seth Waxman handled oral argument at the First Circuit for the President and Fellows of Harvard College, and Paul Wolfson, Danielle Conley, Brittany Blueitt Amadi, Bill Lee, Felicia Ellsworth, Andrew Dulberg, Debo Adegbile, Michelle Liszt Sandals, Greg Schmidt, Emma Simson and Alex Hemmer from Wilmer joined him on the briefs along with Ara Gershengorn of the Harvard University Office of the General Counsel. Waxman, Lee, and Ellsworth picked up Litigator of the Week honors in October 2019 for their trial win before U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the District of Massachusetts.
Getting a shout out this week is Burg Simpson shareholder Mari Perczak, who led a team of construction defect lawyers in securing a $19.48 million award for a 17-building, 82-unit residential common-interest, townhome community in Aurora, Colorado after a 17-day arbitration against publicly-traded homebuilding company Century Communities Inc. and related corporate entities that acted as the developer, builder and general contractor for the project. The Burg Simpson team included shareholder Mike Menghini and trial lawyer Ryan Pardue and had contributions from shareholder Diana Sada and trial attorney Joe Smith.
