By fall 2016, Jones Day’s Intellectual property group leader, Anthony Insogna, knew that the patent case he was handling for Merck & Co. subsidiary Idenix would be going in front of a jury. Idenix had brought patent infringement claims against Gilead Sciences over Gilead’s hepatitis C drug Sovaldi in federal court in Delaware. With trial all but certain and just two months away, he called up one of his partners in Atlanta, Stephanie Parker, and asked her to be trial counsel.

Parker, the co-head of Jones Day’s business and tort litigation practice—affectionately known as BATL in the firm—had never tried an intellectual property case. But as R.J. Reynolds Co.’s lead counsel in the “Engle progeny” tobacco litigation in Florida, she had plenty of experience presenting complex arguments to juries. She said yes.