Benchmark Litigation has named partners Elise Baumgarten, Benjamin Graham, Kathryn Kayali, and Josh Podoll to its 2025 “40 & Under List.” The publication highlights achievements of accomplished legal partners who are forty years old or younger. According to Benchmark Litigation, the list was assembled through a process of peer reviews and case examinations.
Elise Baumgarten litigates civil and criminal cases, with an emphasis on patent and complex commercial disputes. As part of Elise's patent litigation practice, she has represented clients in Hatch-Waxman litigation, inter partes review proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and disputes dealing with the intersection of patent and antitrust law. Elise also has experience in a range of other substantive areas, including antitrust, white-collar criminal defense, accounting malpractice, trade secrets and restrictive covenants, First Amendment, and commercial disputes.
Benjamin Graham focuses his practice on international arbitration and complex commercial litigation and has significant experience in trials, arbitrations, and complex motions practice. He has argued dispositive motions and appeals in both state and federal court; examined witnesses before judges, juries, and arbitrators; and presented opening statements in international arbitrations. Ben has handled investment-treaty disputes before ICSID and diverse commercial disputes before the leading arbitral institutions. His clients include sovereign states, multinational corporations, and AmLaw-100 law firms.
Kathryn Kayali litigates patent disputes with a focus on the pharmaceutical sector. Kat has extensive trial experience representing plaintiffs in Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA contexts, and frequently represents both plaintiffs and defendants in “Brand v. Brand” cases. Kat has handled cases in federal court, at arbitration, and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and has guided clients through every stage of litigation, from complaint through trial and appeal.
Josh Podoll’s practice focuses on complex civil litigation and government investigations. He has represented clients in bench and jury trials across the country—from back-to-back-to-back antitrust trials in Oregon, Washington State, and Colorado against state and federal regulators; to jury trials in Illinois and New York federal court against private and government plaintiffs pursuing high-stakes claims under the False Claims Act; to a five-month trial in Washington State Court representing a pharmaceutical distributor against the State Attorney General in a public-nuisance case involving opioids; to an RMBS trial in New York City, where he represented a multi-national financial institution in a fraud case brought by a bond insurer.
Click here to see the full 2025 “40 & Under List" by Benchmark Litigation.