NOVEMBER 22, 2016 – Laura Handman and Peter Karanjia, co-chairs of the Appellate practice at Davis Wright Tremaine, have both been named to Law360’s list of 2016 "MVPs of the Year."
Handman is one of just five lawyers nationwide on the list for the practice area of Media and Entertainment. Karanjia is one of just three honored for Telecommunications.
This is the second year in a row that Karanjia has received the recognition. Both lawyers will be profiled next month by Law360, a leading online publication for the legal industry.
Handman, who practices from our Washington, D.C., and New York offices, was honored for a string of important successes over the past year, including winning dismissal of a libel suit against a Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times national security correspondent and overcoming the efforts of a multi-billionaire casino magnate —in three Circuits and five federal district courts—to quash subpoenas important to the libel defense in Hong Kong of a Wall Street Journal reporter. In addition, Handman represented leading media organizations as amici in important appellate victories regarding privacy, class action standing, and First Amendment protections for the cloud.
Karanjia, who is based in D.C., was honored for his successful representation of clients in several high-stakes matters, including serving as litigation counsel in a pending case challenging an order by the California Public Utilities Commission to turn over sensitive business data to third parties in a pending administrative proceeding. He serves as lead appellate counsel to the nation’s largest wireless industry trade association as intervenor in the ongoing appeal of an FCC contract critical to the telecommunications industry and worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
Karanjia is a former Deputy General Counsel of the FCC and Special Counsel to the Solicitor General of New York. He rejoined Davis Wright Tremaine in 2013.
This is the third major recognition so far this year for Handman. Best Lawyers and U.S. News named her the New York "Lawyer of the Year" in First Amendment Litigation and Chambers USA designated her as the sole “Star Individual” (Chambers’ top ranking) in Media & Entertainment law in Washington, D.C.
About Davis Wright Tremaine
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is a national law firm with more than 550 lawyers representing clients based throughout the United States and around the world. The firm was recently named “Innovative Law Firm of the Year” for the second year in a row by the International Legal Technology Association. For more information, visit www.dwt.com.