Morgan was selected for the 2023 list for her continuing success in high-stakes patent litigation related to Section 101 of U.S. patent law — or what is known as the “Alice defense” after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court 2014 decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International.

In its profile of Morgan, the Daily Journal highlights Morgan’s “nearly three decades of success representing a variety of companies in the high technology industry” including her use of the Alice defense to invalidate patents, frequently at the pleading phase of disputes.

“The purpose of the patent system is to foster innovation,” Morgan said in the Daily Journal. “So, I want companies to be able to have the freedom to innovate and not have to face patents that should not have been issued in the first place.”

The Daily Journal further highlighted Morgan’s numerous victories for such industries as video games, consumer hardware and electronics, Wi-Fi semiconductors, cloud content management systems and fintech in the country’s most active patent litigation venues. The Daily Journal notes that such wins have eliminated “tens of millions of dollars in potential damages” for her clients.

For example, the Daily Journal spotlighted her wins before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board as lead trial counsel for MIAX in “bet-the-company” disputes that invalidated Nasdaq electronic trading patents.

“The decisions are significant, because they stake out the metes and bounds of what is not patentable in the fintech space and provide additional clarity about the reach and applications of holding in Alice,” Morgan said.

In addition to her reputation as a “go to” patent litigator, Morgan is deeply committed to the advancement of women in business and law. She chairs Reed Smith’s Women’s Initiative Network in San Francisco and is also one of the founding directors of best-selling author Julian Guthrie’s nonprofit Alpha Girls Institute, which is dedicated to supporting women and girls to transcend barriers and succeed in male-dominated industries.