Rebecca Clifford

Rebecca Clifford is a litigation associate in the Newport Beach office of Irell & Manella LLP, where she is a member of the litigation and intellectual property practice groups.

Ms. Clifford’s practice encompasses a wide range of commercial litigation matters, with a particular focus on complex intellectual property disputes. She has experience litigating and counseling clients on matters relating to patents, trademarks, contracts, business torts, and employment issues.

Ms. Clifford is an active member of the firm’s Hiring and Pro Bono Committees. She also devotes a significant amount of time to the community, including service as an appointed member of the Parking, Transportation & Circulation Committee of the Laguna Beach City Council.

Ms. Clifford received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served on the articles review board of the Journal of Social Policy and the Law, was a semi-finalist in the annual Lile Moot Court Competition, and was awarded as one of the Best Oral Advocates of her first year class. She earned her B.A. in Psychology and Communication Studies, summa cum laude, from the University of San Diego.

Representative Matters

• Infineon Technologies v. Atmel Corporation (D. Del.): Ms. Clifford is representing Atmel in a multi-patent lawsuit in the United States District of Delaware in which Infineon and Atmel have asserted claims and counterclaims against each other relating to semiconductor technologies. 
• United States v. Mr. and Mrs. V.: Ms. Clifford provided pro bono representation for an immigrant family in Los Angeles Immigration Court on an application for cancellation of removal. After an evidentiary hearing that included testimony from the couple and their two children, the judge issued a positive final ruling which allowed the entire family to remain in the United States after three appeals and ten years of litigation in the immigration courts.
• RRLH, Inc. v. Barto (C.D. Cal.): Ms. Clifford has counseled RRLH on a number of trademark issues, including the enforcement of a consent judgment that prohibited Barto from infringing RRLH’s trademarks.  In response to RRLH’s motion, the court ruled that Barto was in contempt of the consent judgment order and awarded RRLH monetary damages and attorneys’ fees. The damages award—including the award of attorneys’ fees—was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Publications & Presentations

• "Equitable Estoppel Case Out Of Touch With Reality," Daily Journal, April 17, 2013
• “Ethically Speaking: Rule 502 and Clawback Agreements,” 54 Orange County Lawyer (2012) (co-author, with Lisa Glasser)
• “Ethically Speaking: The Rules of ‘Friending,’” 53 Orange County Lawyer (2011)
• “Encoding Conditions and Personality Effects on a Recognition Task,” poster presentation at the 84th Annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Phoenix, Arizona (2004) (co-author, with Vincent Stretch, Annette Taylor, Erin Cipolla, and Vanessa Headley)

 Professional & Community Activities

• National Association of Women Lawyers
• Parking, Transportation & Circulation Committee, Laguna Beach City Council

Bar & Court Admissions

• California, 2007
• Central District of California, 2008
• Northern District of California, 2009
• United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2009
• United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2010