Harmeet Kaur Dhillon

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Harmeet Kaur Dhillon is an associate attorney with the nationally known law firm Cooley Godward LLP where her practice focuses on complex commercial and technology litigation. She has experience litigating trademark, copyright and patent infringement cases, trade secret and unfair competition claims, mergers and acquisitions disputes, employment discrimination claims, insurance coverage disputes and mass torts, including asbestos bankruptcy.

Before joining Cooley Godward, Harmeet was an associate in the New York office of Sidley & Austin from 1998 to 2000. Her practice there involved a broad range of commercial litigation matters, including a major technology-related insurance dispute, employment and trade secret litigation, banking litigation and securities litigation. While at Sidley & Austin she was appointed a Special Assistant District Attorney for Queens County for the purpose of representing the State of New York before New York’s Appellate Division.

Before joining Sidley & Austin Harmeet was an associate at Shearman & Sterling, where she practiced both in New York and London from 1994 to 1998. Her practice at Shearman & Sterling focused on commercial litigation in the securities, mergers & acquisitions, insurance and health care areas.

Prior to joining Shearman & Sterling Harmeet also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Paul V. Niemeyer of the United Stated Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Baltimore, Maryland.

Education

Harmeet received a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School in 1993, where she served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review and an A.B. in Classical Studies (ancient Greek, Latin, and classical art, architecture, history and literature) from Dartmouth College in 1989. She is admitted to practice before the California and New York State Courts, the United States District Courts for the Northern District of California and the Southern District of New York, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second and Ninth Circuit. She is also a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. She is a member of the State Bars of California and New York and the Law Society of England and Wales.

Harmeet’s publications include “Preliminary Injunctive Relief in the Federal Courts,” with Joseph T. McLaughlin, ALI/ABA, January, 1996. She has also authored columns in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the San Jose Mercury News.

Charitable Work / Pro Bono Publico Activities

As a committed Sikh, Harmeet has selflessly helped many Sikh as well as non-Sikh charitable and non-profit organizations. Her appointments and work with such organizations have included:

  • Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.
  • Director, South Asian Bar Association of Northern California.
  • Founder, Sikh Bar Association of North America.
  • Trustee, The Sikh Foundation.
  • Director, Support Network For Battered Women (Santa Clara County), a not-for-profit community service organization.
  • Founder and Legal Counsel, Sikh Communications Council, a not-for-profit civil rights organization based in Silicon Valley.
  • Legal Counsel, Lohgarh Sikh Education Foundation.
  • Legal Counsel, Sikh Media Watch and Resource Task Force, a not-for-profit civil rights organization based in New York.
  • Volunteer for Maitri, a Silicon Valley domestic violence organization serving the South Asian community.
  • Volunteer for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.

Awards

  • Recipient: 2002 Outstanding Community Leadership Award from the Minority Bar Coalition of Northern California.
  • Editorial Board of Contributors, San Jose Mercury News

A Founding Member of the The Sikh Bar Association

In order to help the Sikh community in North America, recently Harmeet and a few other Sikh attorneys founded The Sikh Bar Association. This organization is the first of its kind in North America to serve the Sikh legal community.