Professionals

George Lombardi

Partner

Overview
Experience
Credentials
Insights & News

A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, George’s skills have been widely recognized by a number of the leading legal directories. The American Lawyer (2014), named him a “Litigator of the Year,” and he is described by IAM Patent 1000 as a “truly gifted lawyer and one of the finest trial lawyers anywhere in the world.”

George routinely serves as lead trial counsel for companies in highly publicized patent cases. For example, his US$1B jury verdict on behalf of Monsanto in Monsanto Co. v. E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co. was recognized as the number three verdict in The National Law Journal’s Top 100 Verdicts of 2012 and was featured as the cover story in the Spring 2013 Am Law Litigation supplement. This verdict also earned him a “Litigator of the Week” mention by the Am Law Litigation Daily and recognition as an “Intellectual Property MVP” for 2012 by Law360. The case involved Monsanto’s ground-breaking Roundup Ready® technology, which farmers worldwide use to make their crops herbicide resistant.

He has handled and continues to handle various other patent cases involving telephone and computer technology, medical devices and instruments, and pharmaceuticals. Notably, he has obtained trial wins in matters involving a number of top-selling drugs, including: Zubsolv®, Prozac®, Yasmin®, Baraclude®, Razadyne ER/Razadyne IR®, Temodar®, Amrix®, Amprya®, Sensipar®, and Testim®, among others. Many of his cases have involved first of their kind wins. For instance, the Baraclude® case was the first ANDA case finding obviousness of a chemical compound patent, and the Prozac® case was called the “Mother of All Patent Challenges” by Fortune magazine. He recently obtained a trial victory in a case involving the brand drug Zubsolv®.

Outside of the patent arena, George has secured numerous victories for client Philip Morris (PM) in its ongoing tobacco litigation cases. Most recently he served as first-chair trial counsel and obtained a complete defense jury verdict in the retrial of Craft v. Philip Morris, a billion-dollar consumer fraud class action. In connection with his product liability work, Legal 500 US described him as “a bet-the-company trial lawyer who is extremely easy to work with and strikes up a great rapport with juries.” Previously, he served as lead trial counsel in Falise v. Philip Morris, an eight-week trial that helped stem a wave of suits by asbestos manufacturers against the tobacco industry, and as co-lead trial counsel in Iron Workers Local Union No. 17 Insurance Fund v. Philip Morris, which involved a US$2B RICO claim brought by union trust funds against the tobacco industry and resulted in a jury verdict for the defense. In addition, he was second chair in State of Washington v. Philip Morris, the Washington state attorney general action that was being tried to a jury at the time the National State Attorney General Tobacco Settlement was reached in November of 1998.

George's securities and commodities litigation experience includes the successful defense in a jury trial of a US$30M RICO claim arising out of a commodities transaction (Farmland Industries v. Frazier-Parrott Commodities) and the defense of a four-month securities fraud and RICO jury trial in which the client was dismissed before verdict (In re American Continental Corporation/Lincoln Savings & Loan Securities Litigation).

Other significant trials include the successful defense of a sports agent accused of defrauding various universities (United States v. Bloom); the successful defense of criminal fraud claims (United States v. Commito); and the successful defense in a bench trial of a breach of contract case (Indianapolis Life v. Dominick’s Finer Foods).

Recent Experience

Winston Serves as Trial Counsel in Monsanto Roundup Litigation

Rare Noninfringement Jury Verdict for Teva N.A. in Patent Infringement Case for Suboxone® Tablets

George was recognized in the The Best Lawyers in America® (2016–2025) for Intellectual Property Litigation, Patent Litigation, and Patent Law. He was also recognized in the 2023 and 2024 editions for Product Liability Litigation-Defendants and was selected as the 2021 and 2022 “Lawyer of the Year” for Patent Litigation. He was named to the 2023 list of “Notable Litigators and Trial Lawyers” by Crain’s Chicago Business. He has received a “Band 1” ranking by Chambers USA, which noted his ability to “set forth incredibly passionate arguments that appear indisputable” and his “incredible presence in court.” He was recognized in the 2010–2024 editions of Chambers USA and in the 2021–2023 editions of Chambers Global which named him a “top-notch lawyer” and “quality litigator.” He was recognized by Benchmark Litigation US in it’s list of “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America” (2017–2025), as an “Illinois Litigation Star” and “National Practice Area Star” for Intellectual Property and Product Liability (2012–2025), and as the “Intellectual Property Attorney of the Year” in 2017. The Legal 500 U.S. called attention to his “lead trial counsel capabilities on high-profile cases” and recognized him to the “Hall of Fame” for Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action Defense: Consumer Products (Including Tobacco) and for Intellectual Property: Patents: Litigation. The Legal 500 US also recognized him as a “Leading Trial Lawyer” and a “Key Lawyer” in the areas of General Commercial Disputes; Healthcare: Life Sciences; Dispute Resolution: Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action - Defense: Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices; and Dispute Resolution: Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action - Defense: Toxic Tort. In 2021, he was named to WIPR Leaders for Patents, Pharmaceuticals, and Technology. He was recognized in IAM Patent 1000 from 2011–2024 which noted that he “knocks it out the park when it comes to distilling down complexity to present a clear, compelling case” and was recognized as an IAM Global Leader from 2021–2025.

He was named an “IP Star” by Managing Intellectual Property from 2013–2024 and was awarded the “Outstanding Litigator (Illinois)” award in 2017. He was recognized by LMG Life Sciences for Hatch-Waxman patent litigation from 2012–2019 and 2021–2022, and recognized by Law360 as an “Intellectual Property MVP” in December 2012. George has also been recognized as an Illinois “SuperLawyer” for numerous years. In addition, he was named in The Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America (2012–2016, 2022–2025) for patent litigation and Lawdragon 500’s 2021 The Legends list. He was recommended as a “Global Leader” for Life Sciences-Patent Litigation and Product Liability Defense in the 2022 edition of Who’s Who Legal. He was selected as a 2019 NLJ Winning Litigator in recognition of his significant victories in high-stakes matters for his clients and was listed in the Guide to the World’s Leading Experts in Patent Law Practitioners in 2013. In both 2013 and 2014, George was recognized at the Inaugural U.S. Benchmark Annual Awards as “Litigator of the Year – Midwest.”

George’s US$1 billion jury verdict on behalf of Monsanto in Monsanto Co. v. E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co. was recognized as the number three verdict in The National Law Journal’s Top 100 Verdicts of 2012, and was featured as the cover story in the Spring 2013 Am Law Litigation supplement. This verdict also earned him a “Litigator of the Week” mention by the Am Law Litigation Daily, and recognition as an “Intellectual Property MVP” for 2012 by Law360.

In 2015, Winston & Strawn was named the “Chicago Litigation Department of the Year” for general litigation by The National Law Journal.