As the Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr team prepared for arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, the odds seemed stacked against them.

For years, legal scholars, economists and lower courts had criticized Brulotte v. Thys, a 1964 decision that rendered royalty contracts unenforceable after the expiration of a patent. But under the leadership of Tom Saunders, a newly minted partner, the team convinced the high court to follow precedent and leave any changes to Congress.