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Linda M. Watson

Member
fax +1 248.988.2333

Linda Watson, Chair of the firm’s Automotive and Manufacturing Industry group, represents businesses and public corporations in business and commercial litigation, supply chain matters, contractual actions, property issues, and copyright and trademark law.

Linda has significant trial experience as lead counsel in state and federal court, as well as in arbitrations and other dispute venues. Her clients include some of the most innovative companies and manufacturers, including automotive suppliers, dedicated to embracing new technologies and strategies to stay steps ahead of an ever-changing landscape.

Linda is the first woman elected by her equity peers to the firm’s Executive Committee and helped to lead the firm in this role through its most significant mergers and growth. Linda also manages the firm’s largest industry practice group and a multi-disciplinary collaborative team focused on helping clients navigate the road ahead. In addition, Linda is Co-Chair of BOLD, an auxiliary group within the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, whose goal is to encourage the professional growth and promotion of women in the firm, the legal industry and the global business community.

Linda firmly believes in continuous improvement and growth. She was accepted and is enrolled in Stanford University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Certificate Program sponsored by the School of Engineering and she is a recent graduate of the Northwestern University Leading Diversity Equity and Inclusion Certification Program earning her certification to lead DEI in 2020.

In addition, Linda is a graduate of the National Trial Institute for Trial Advocacy, one of the leading institutions for intensive professional training in the art and skills of trial advocacy and was invited by Mathew Bender to be the Content Editor for Michigan Pretrial Civil Procedure a Lexis Nexis Practice Guide first published originally in 2016 and updated in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Education

J.D., cum laude, Michigan State University College of Law, East Lansing, Michigan, 1991
B.A., Oakland University, Rochester Hills, Michigan, 1987

Recognitions

Named 2024 Top Lawyer by DBusiness

Named among The Best Lawyers in America® for Commercial Litigation by Best Lawyers (2020-2024)

Selected to the Michigan Super Lawyers list for Business Litigation (2021)

Named a Leading Lawyer in Birmingham by Leading Lawyers℠ (2017-2022)

Selected by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as a Michigan Go To Lawyer for Business (2023)

Named a Notable Leader in DEI by Crain’s Detroit Business (2023)

Selected by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as a Women in the Law (2022)

Memberships

American Bar Association

Federal Bar Association

State Bar of Michigan

Oakland County Bar Association

State Bar Licenses

Michigan

Court Admissions

U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit
  • Represented a world class manufacturer of advanced automation and control systems in successfully obtaining injunctive relief to protect and enjoin the use of highly confidential and proprietary data and trade secrets.
  • Represented an emerging technologies company in a dispute involving the breach of a supply agreement and assisted in securing a multi-million-dollar settlement.
  • Served as lead trial counsel in a breach of warranty case on behalf of a company engaged in the production and development of thermal interface materials and automated applications and after a week-long jury trial in federal court obtained a significant damages award against the defendant.
  • Awarded a temporary restraining order on behalf of a technology driven manufacturer in a lawsuit involving the ownership of specialized tooling prevented the collapse of an on- demand supply chain.
  • Served as a member of a small trial team that successfully protected a patent involving a fuel hose from infringement and a patent challenge obtaining a judgment that upheld the patent as a narrow improvement in a crowded art.
  • Defended a shareholder dispute involving a closely held automotive supplier and obtained summary dismissal of all the complaint while winning a favorable money judgment on a counterclaim at trial.