Profile

Hank Gutman is a Retired Partner of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP, where he headed the Intellectual Property Practice Group from 1996 until his recent retirement.

During his 40-year legal career, Professor Gutman litigated a wide range of high-profile intellectual property cases, including Lotus v. Borland, which he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as cases for clients such as Intel, Polaroid, Cisco, Verizon and Verizon Wireless, Apple, 3Com, Daiichi Sankyo, and Human Genome Sciences. His pro bono practice has included representing the New York Public Library, Princeton University, and Harvard Law School on digital copyright issues. Professor Gutman is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, where he chaired the Complex Litigation Committee and serves as an Editor-in-Chief of Anatomy of a Patent Case, published jointly with the Federal Judicial Center. He has been a frequent lecturer on intellectual property issues and was appointed a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, where he taught a copyright course. Professor Gutman also serves from time to time as an expert witness and has an active arbitration practice.

Earlier in his career, Professor Gutman clerked for Hon. John F. Dooling, Jr. in the Eastern District of New York. 

On the civic side, Professor Gutman serves as Chair of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the City’s largest industrial park, providing thousands of quality manufacturing jobs for those who need them most. He also serves on the Board of Brooklyn Bridge Park (and each of its predecessors, dating back to 1998), helping create a world-class park on what was an abandoned waterfront. He is a trustee of the Brooklyn Public Library, where he co-chairs the Digital Innovation Committee, and a member of the Board of St. Ann’s Warehouse.