Whether dialing up a nine-figure verdict against the world’s most famous technology company or breaking new ground on the patentability of medical diagnostics, Irell & Manella has had a year to remember in intellectual property.

Last fall the firm went to trial against Apple Inc. and an all-star team from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and emerged with a $234 million patent infringement verdict for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, or WARF, the university’s licensing arm.