Fish & Richardson Adds Commercial Litigator

Boston, MA, March 20, 2013 – Thomas C. Frongillo, head of the Litigation Practice at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP’s Boston office and Co-Chair of the firm’s national White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice Group, has joined Fish & Richardson as a Principal in its Commercial Litigation Group.  Frongillo is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts with over 30 years of litigation experience.  He will continue to represent clients in high-stakes white collar criminal prosecutions, corporate and regulatory investigations, and complex commercial litigation.

Frongillo represents corporations and individuals in white collar criminal matters involving alleged environmental law violations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, securities fraud, health care fraud, misappropriation of intellectual property, computer fraud, and public corruption.  He conducts internal investigations for corporations, and regularly advises companies and individuals on corporate and regulatory compliance issues.  His practice also includes representing clients in civil business litigation, many of which are parallel proceedings filed in connection with criminal and regulatory matters.  

“We are very excited to welcome Tom into our growing Commercial Litigation Group.  While Fish is well known for doing more patent litigation than any other firm, we also have a top-notch business litigation practice that handles high profile, make-or-break your company litigation.  Bringing on a significant lateral hire like Tom, who is so highly regarded, will be tremendously valuable to our clients and our team,” said Ann Cathcart Chaplin, Litigation Practice Group Leader at Fish.  

In 2009, Frongillo obtained an acquittal of a senior executive of W.R. Grace in a landmark three-month criminal jury trial, United States v. W.R. Grace, in which his client was vindicated on charges of knowing endangerment under the Clean Air Act and defrauding the United States.  The U.S. Department of Justice characterized the case as the most significant criminal environmental prosecution in U.S. history.

Frongillo has been named a “Leading Lawyer” for White Collar Criminal Defense and for Trade Secrets by The Legal 500 USA and a “Best Lawyer” in White Collar Criminal Defense by The Best Lawyers in America.  He is the Chair of the White Collar Defense and Investigations Committee of the International Association of Defense Counsel, a Co-Chair of the White Collar Crime Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and on the editorial board of White Collar Crime Reporter (Andrews Litigation Reporter).  He is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Epiphany School of Boston and served as a member of the Board of Directors of Greater Boston Legal Services. 

Frongillo received his J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1982 and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the College of the Holy Cross in 1979.

Fish & Richardson is a global law firm providing strategic counseling and litigation services to innovative clients who seek to protect and maximize the value of their intellectual property (IP). Founded in 1878, Fish’s early clients included Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers.  The firm has more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists practicing IP strategy and counseling, IP litigation, and commercial litigation.  Fish is consistently singled out for its superior technical expertise and great results, and has been named the top patent litigation firm in the country for nine consecutive years, the number one IP firm for America’s biggest companies, and an elite top tier law practice.  For more information, visit www.fr.com or follow @fishrichardson on Twitter.