SCOTTSDALE, AZ, May 03, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Gerald D. W. North with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Mr. North celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Mr. North is a nationally recognized antitrust trial lawyer of 48-years-experience, best known for his early roles in the government and private antitrust litigation against AT&T that led to MCI's $1.8 billion judgment in 1980 and AT&T's subsequent breakup in 1984 and the antitrust litigation between Ohio-Sealy Mattress Co. and Sealy, Inc. that led to Ohio-Sealy's near-total acquisition of Sealy in 1987 and its subsequent sale for nearly $1 billion in 1989; and for his later roles as lead counsel for Phoenix-based IMPRA, Inc. in the decade-long patent/antitrust litigation that led to invalidation of the Gore-Tex patent in 1990 and C.R. Bard's subsequent acquisition of IMPRA in 1996 for $143 million; as lead counsel in the S&L crisis-born litigation against Hall Financial, the then-largest apartment syndicator in the U.S., that resulted in the first-ever jury verdict against Hall and a subsequent settlement between Hall and the RTC for $102.5 million in 1993; as lead counsel in the multi-district antitrust class action against the major title insurers, for price-fixing title insurance search and examination fees, that led to a $106 million settlement in 1995, following his argument of the case in the U.S. Supreme Court; and as lead counsel for Freeport-based Mintec, Inc. in multi-national litigation with Datascope over rights to the patent for the pioneer nitinol stent that ended in settlement in 1995 and Boston Scientific's acquisition of Mintec for $72 million in 1996.
Before establishing his own eponymous law firm in 2003, following early retirement at age 45 in 1996, Mr. North was an associate attorney at Sidley Austin in Chicago, and a partner in Brace & North, also in Chicago. In 1984, he relocated to Phoenix where he was a shareholder in North & Barron and later North & Vaira, which had offices in both Phoenix and Philadelphia. After resuming practice, Mr. North represented the original inventor of mobile point-of-sale, later commercialized as Square,™ in decade-long litigation relating to his invention.
As an extension of his professional work, Mr. North has served in various advisory, directorship, and executive roles, including service as Executive Vice-President and General Counsel of a domestic satellite company in Chicago, as Vice Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer at Clear View Technologies, Inc., in San Jose, and as a board member or shareholder in various other domestic and foreign companies including companies in Marseille, France; Vancouver, Canada; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and Freeport, Grand Bahamas. He has been affiliated with Tech Masters Labs, Inc., in Santa Clara, since 2018, and serves as its corporate secretary.
As a community member, Mr. North has at various times been affiliated with the Legal Club in Chicago, the University Club in Chicago, the United Oxford and Cambridge Club in London, the Monte-Carlo Country Club, the Desert Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona and the Monarch Bay Beach Club in Dana Point, California.
A graduate of the University of Iowa, Mr. North received a Bachelor of Arts in history, with honors and distinction, in 1972, and Doctor of Jurisprudence, with high distinction, in 1975. From 1975 to 1976, he was a post-graduate Master of Philosophy candidate in Law at the University of Oxford. He was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa in 1970, Phi Beta Kappa in 1972, and Order of the Coif in 1975. He was subsequently admitted to practice in a number of states and various federal courts. He currently maintains active status in the bars of the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits, and the General and Trial bars of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Over the years, he has appeared in cases in the Northern District of Illinois, the District of Arizona, the District of Connecticut, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Eastern District of Virginia, the District of Minnesota, the Southern District of New York, the Central District of California, and the Northern District of California.
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