Genevieve Vose Wallace

Genevieve Wallace is a partner in the Seattle office of Susman Godfrey where she has practiced since 2007. She has a diverse commercial practice – representing both plaintiffs and defendants, individuals and Fortune 500 companies, and advocating for her clients in federal and state court, before administrative tribunals, and in arbitration.

Wallace is known for her devotion to her clients, her ability to lead through inspiration, and, most notably, for using strategic problem-solving and outside-the- box thinking. This is nowhere more apparent than in her bringing Susman Godfrey’s successful patent litigation practice to the International Trade Commission (ITC), where Wallace has now been involved in several intellectual property investigations.

Focus on IP

While Wallace is skilled at trying cases in all legal areas, she has recently focused much of her litigation on intellectual property, where she has proved herself a force to be reckoned with both within and outside of Susman Godfrey. Wallace has taken on industry giants such as Samsung, LG, Sharp and VIZIO as co-lead counsel on a patent infringement investigation before the International Trade Commission for her client, Cresta Technology Corp.  This was the firm’s first case before the ITC.

Top-Name Clients

Wallace is currently trial counsel for online real estate company, Zillow, in a copyright infringement case, Zillow v. VHT, in which VHT accused Zillow of having copied approximately 90,000 of their home images on the Zillow website. The Susman Godfrey team successfully got 70% of the case thrown out before trial. The subsequent trial resulted in an award of the lowest possible damages on most of the images still at issue. In 2017, post-trial motions took a big bite out of the judgment, with the jury’s findings of infringement being thrown out as to 24,000 of the remaining 28,000 images. The case is now on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

Wallace also represents Amazon Web Services in trademark litigation against CafeX Communications that launched in February 2017. In mid-2017, Judge Marrero in the Southern District of New York denied CafeX’s request for a preliminary injunction, an early success for Wallace and the Amazon team. The case recently reached a confidential settlement.

A Unique Background

Before joining Susman Godfrey, Wallace clerked first for the Honorable Betty Binns Fletcher, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and then for the Honorable John C. Coughenour, United States District Court for the Western District of Washington where she gained unparalleled experience and priceless knowledge of the workings of the bench.

In 2014, inspired by Sheryl Sandberg’s best-seller Lean In, Wallace worked with the King County chapter of Washington Women Lawyers (“KCWWL”) and Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association of Seattle (“MAMAS”) to start Lean In Circles for ambitious women attorneys throughout Seattle.  Wallace’s own Lean In Circle continues to meet monthly.

Notable Representations

Honors & Distinctions

Clerkships

Education

Admissions