(215) 525-9583 direct (Philadelphia)
(646) 680-9663 direct (NYC)
ndgalli@ndgallilaw.com

“I like to create things from whole cloth and solve problems. Like Han Solo, I don’t ask if something is possible until after I’ve done it.”

Nicole D. Galli focuses her practice on commercial litigation, including all forms of intellectual property (IP) litigation, and IP counseling, especially regarding IP protection strategies including for trade secret management.  Nicole founded our firm in 2015, after spending over two decades at two AmLaw 100 firms, an IP boutique firm, and a full-service regional firm.  Nicole has over thirty years of experience handling complex technical cases, typically involving patents or trade secrets.  Since her first patent case in the early 1990s, she has also frequently been asked to handle matters involving disputes over the ownership of intellectual property, including involving disputes about joint invention or independent development.

Nicole has litigated and tried technical cases and a wide variety of other Intellectual Property and business disputes for clients in federal and state courts across the country, as well as in administrative forums, and in international and domestic arbitration.  Nicole also has deep experience in representing clients in dozens of mediations and settlement conferences before both private mediators and the judiciary. She represents clients in IP matters such as patent infringement and licensing litigation, trademark matters including infringement, as well as opposition and cancellation before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, trade dress infringement, copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets claims.  She also has extensive experience with many other types of business disputes including breach of contract, restrictive covenant, tortious interference, antitrust, consumer fraud and class action matters. 

Nicole also counsels clients on IP portfolio acquisition, management, enforcement and monetization, with particular experience in helping clients identify previously untapped IP assets in their business as well as best practices for the governance and management of trade secrets.

Nicole has worked in litigation and counseling capacities with clients in various industries including life sciences, healthcare, software, electronics, consumer products, automotive, energy, hospitality, food and beverage, fashion, media, construction, manufacturing, marketing and other service providers. Her clients include individuals, start-ups, large national and multi-national companies, as well as cultural institutions and non-profits.

Professional & Community Activities

Nicole has a long history of giving back to the community and the profession.

Women Owned Law

Nicole founded and was the first President of Women Owned Law (WOL), the first national networking organization for women entrepreneurs in the law. WOL empowers women entrepreneurs to revolutionize the business of law through network building, education and other resources and advocacy in the marketplace. With a soft launch in the fall of 2016 that started in Philadelphia with a group of 8 women, WOL has approximately 200 members throughout the United States.

American Bar Association

Nicole is a member of the American Bar Association, where she has served in a number of capacities including as the CLE Officer of the Section of Intellectual Property Law from 2016 to 2018 and as the Section’s Liaison to the Commission on Women from 2021-2023.  She currently serves as the IP Section’s first Diversity Officer, and as a member of the Section’s Council.  

Nicole also currently serves as the Section Officers Conference Liaison to the ABA’s Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council for the 2023-2024 bar year.  Previously, Nicole has been very active in the ABA Section of Litigation, including Co-Chairing the Section’s 2023 Corporate Counsel Conference and serving for three years as one of the Co-Chairs of the Business Torts and Unfair Competition Committee. 

Sedona Conference Working Group 12 (Trade Secrets) 

In the winter of 2017, Nicole participated in the first, invitation-only Sedona Conference on Trade Secrets and is a founding member of the new Sedona Conference Working Group 12 (Trade Secrets) that launched in 2018. Nicole serves on the Sedona WG12 Steering Committee and currently co-chairs the Drafting Team writing a Commentary on Model Jury Instructions for the Defend Trade Secrets Action.  Previously, Nicole co-chaired the Sedona WG12 drafting team on the governance and management of trade secrets (Team 5), which resulted in a final Commentary providing a framework for trade secrets management that was published in July 2023 and available here.

Licensing Executives Society

Nicole served as Vice Chair of the IP in the Supply Chain Committee, which developed an ANSI standard for protecting trade secrets and other IP in the supply chain for the LES’s IP Management Standards Project.  A copy of that standard is available here (paywall).

Additional Activities

  • Forum of Executive Women
  • Forum Foundation, Chair, 2020-2022; Board of Directors, 2019-2022
  • Board of Directors, 2018-2020
  • Past Chair, Forum Award for Emerging Women Leaders Committee
  • Member of the Forum Ally Selection Committee, 2020
  • American Intellectual Property Law Association
  • Member, Trade Secrets Committee
  • Member, Women in IP Committee
  • Philadelphia Bar Association
  • Founding Co-Chair, Chancellor’s Mentoring and Professional Development Initiative


Thought Leadership

Nicole is a frequent speaker, author and thought leader on issues impacting women attorneys and entrepreneurs, as well as on various legal topics including intellectual property strategy, trade secrets protection and litigation, trademark, copyright and patent law and litigation, commercial litigation best practices and procedural matters, and litigation financing.


Education

  • University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1992, J.D.
  • University of Pennsylvania, 1989, B.A., cum laude


Bar Admissions

  • Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Delaware (inactive)
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third and Federal Circuits
  • U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, District of Delaware, Southern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Michigan, District of New Jersey, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, Northern District of Ohio, Eastern District of Texas


Awards and Honors

  • Included in the 27th -29th Editions of The Best Lawyers in America® in 2021, 2022 and 2023 for her work in Patent Law
  • WBEC-East, WBE Leadership Award, 2020
  • Women Owned Law, Inaugural “Founders Award,” 2020
  • Tory Burch Foundation, Fellow, 2019
  • Philadelphia Business Journal, “Best of the Bar – Intellectual Property Litigation,” 2019
  • IAM Strategy 300, Worlds Leading IP Strategists, 2019
  • Philadelphia Inquirer, “Influencers of Law – Intellectual Property Litigation,” 2019
  • Philadelphia Business Journal, Women of Distinction, 2018
  • Martindale-Hubbell AV® Peer-Rated
  • Pennsylvania Super Lawyer, 2005-present
  • Arrive Magazine, Top Women Lawyers in the Northeast, 2011
  • Philadelphia Smart CEO Magazine, Legal Elite, 2010
  • Philadelphia Business Journal, 40 Under 40, 2003
  • American Lawyer Media, Lawyers on the Fast Track in Pennsylvania, 2003
  • Forum of Executive Women, Forum Award, 2003

 

Galli, Nicole

Contact

Nicole D. Galli
Managing Member
ndgalli@ndgallilaw.com

One Liberty Place
1650 Market Street
Suite 3600,
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 525-9583 direct
(215) 525-9585 facsimile

136 Madison Avenue, 6th floor
New York, NY 10016
(646) 680-9663 direct