Elliot Brown is a member of Phillips ADR’s distinguished panel of neutrals. He is the former managing partner of Irell & Manella LLP. Before transitioning to a full time mediation and arbitration practice with Phillips ADR, Elliot spent nearly three decades immersed in a broad gamut of IP litigation, counseling, and licensing as part of one of the premier IP practices in the nation.

Before embarking on his legal career, Elliot received his A.B. degree cum laude from Harvard College in 1985 where he was a John Harvard Scholar and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was awarded a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities to continue his studies in the philosophy of science in Princeton University’s doctoral program.

In graduate school, Elliot was introduced to game theory and the early works of Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman on bargaining and cognitive bias. Those studies sparked his enduring interest in the empirical study of decision-making and bargaining, a field that he has found to be an invaluable source of tools for resolving complex disputes.

After obtaining his MA in 1987, Elliot left Princeton for Harvard Law School. He was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and a research assistant for Dean Robert Clark. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1990.

Elliot subsequently clerked in S.D.N.Y for the Hon. Pierre N. Leval (now on the Second Circuit), a renowned scholar of U.S. copyright law and author of the transformative fair use test adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Following his clerkship, Elliot joined Irell. He became a partner in 1996, and the firm’s managing partner in 2009.

Elliot has represented plaintiffs, defendants and third-party intervenors in disputed matters involving patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, rights of publicity, idea theft, and unfair competition as well as in matters involving business torts, antitrust, and breach of contract. His clients have ranged from Fortune 50 technology companies, movies studios, major record labels, and the world’s top video game companies to privately held startups, law firms and individuals. He has led matters in federal trial and appellate courts around the nation, in California’s state courts, in ITC proceedings and in ICC and AAA arbitrations. He has handled numerous matters involving business and consumer software, semiconductor design and packaging, video games, consumer electronics, advertising, motion pictures, search engines, social media sites, music, publishing, non-operating entities, memory and storage, fine art, medical devices and pharmaceutical delivery systems.

While he was his firm’s managing partner, Elliot assumed additional responsibility for his firm’s business including strategic and financial planning, a technology overhaul, lease negotiations, risk management and insurance matters, lateral acquisitions and expansion, and alternative fee arrangements. He was the firm’s designated tax partner and “client” in firm-related legal matters. During his tenure, Irell was named to Amlaw’s A-List in recognition of the firm’s financial performance, pro bono work, associate satisfaction and diversity.

Elliot’s professional accolades include being recognized by Best Lawyers in America in the areas of IP litigation, Patent, and Copyright law (since 2006) and being named as a California Super Lawyer (since 2004). In 2017, Best Lawyers named him the Los Angeles Copyright Lawyer of Year.

Elliot has taught at numerous CLE events and has done presentations on IP law and the business of law firms at Harvard Law School. He recently co-taught the advanced copyright seminar at UCLA Law School with Professor David Nimmer. He has periodically acted as a legal consultant on motion pictures including Runaway Jury and Fair Game.

Throughout his career, Elliot has volunteered substantial pro bono time to help veterans, victims of domestic violence, and the elderly poor. He has been a member of the board of the LA Legal Aid Foundation for over a decade.

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