EXPERIENCE
Ms. Somait is a member Price, Postel & Parma’s Litigation Department and handles general civil matters, environmental matters, and public agency law. Prior to joining PP&P, she began her career at Irell & Manella LLP in Los Angeles where she handled complex civil litigation in the pharmaceutical, electronics, and software industries. Ms. Somait then worked as a dispute settlement lawyer for the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, where she provided legal advice to adjudicators in trade disputes between World Trade Organization member nations.
Ms. Somait spent two years as a law clerk to Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County’s Complex Civil Litigation Program before returning to Santa Barbara to join the Office of Santa Barbara County Counsel. At County Counsel she litigated cases on behalf of the County of Santa Barbara and provided legal advice to county departments and the Board of Supervisors, primarily in the area of land use, including California Environmental Quality Act litigation. From there, she joined the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted misdemeanor and general felony cases.
EDUCATION
- University of California, Santa Barbara (B.A., Highest Honors, College of Creative Studies, Biology, 2005)
- Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland (LL.M., summa cum laude in International Law specializing in International Economic Law, 2015)
- Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 2008)
ADMISSIONS
- California
- Central District of California
- Northern District of California
- Ninth Circuit
- Federal Circuit
MEMBERSHIPS
- The State Bar of California
- United States Patent and Trademark Office (Patent Attorney)
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
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- Dos Pueblos High School Mock Trial Coach (2019 – 2025)
Reported Cases
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- Anderson v. County of Santa Barbara (2023) 94 Cal.App.5th 554.
- University of Utah v. Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Wissenschaften e.V. (D. Mass. 2015) 134 F.Supp.3d 576.
- Eddie E. v. Superior Court (2013) 223 Cal.App.4th 622.
- Ariosa Diagnostics, Inc. v. Sequenom, Inc. (N.D. Cal. 2013) 19 F.Supp.3d 938, aff’d (Fed. Cir. 2015) 788 F.3d 1371.
- University of Utah v. Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Wissenschaften E.V. (D. Mass. 2012) 881 F.Supp.2d 151, 157, aff’d (Fed. Cir. 2013) 734 F.3d 1315.
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Wissenschaften E.V. v. Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (D. Mass. 2011) 850 F.Supp.2d317.
