Mr. Passarelli is a partner in the Omaha office of Kutak Rock. His practice concentrates on complex commercial litigation, at both the trial and appellate levels, with an emphasis on cases involving antitrust, intellectual property and information technology. Mr. Passarelli’s commercial litigation practice is national in scope. He has tried bench and jury trials in federal and state courts throughout the United States, including complex commercial cases tried in Alabama, California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, South Dakota and Virginia, in addition to the state of Nebraska where he resides.

In addition to his commercial litigation practice, Mr. Passarelli frequently advises directors and senior management on issues involving antitrust, intellectual property and technology and has been doing so for over 30 years. His experience includes counseling Fortune 500 companies concerning the adoption and execution of antitrust compliance programs, programs concerning the acquisition and maintenance of intellectual property assets and programs relating to electronic transactions and records.

Mr. Passarelli also has extensive appellate court experience having participated in appeals before the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals. He served as appellate counsel in an antitrust case that was argued before the United States Supreme Court in November of 2005. He also has handled appeals before state appellate courts.

Mr. Passarelli has achieved the highest ratings from his peers for quality of legal work, professionalism, ethics and trial experience. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has received an “AV” rating by Martindale-Hubbell®. He was selected by members of the legal community for inclusion in The Best Lawyers of America© for the past several years, including 2017 Lawyer of the Year, Omaha, in Franchise Law. Mr. Passarelli has received recognition for several years in Chambers U.S.A: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and was recognized by Super Lawyers® which represents the elite of the practicing attorneys in the Midwest.

He has been recognized as one of Nebraska’s top commercial trial lawyers by Benchmark published by Institutional Investor as a Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys.

Mr. Passarelli has also been recognized as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. The Litigation Counsel of America is a trial lawyer honorary society established to reflect the new face of the American Bar. Membership is very limited, representing less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers and is by invitation only. Membership includes placement of a maximum of 3,500 Fellows who are selected and invited into fellowship after being evaluated on effectiveness and accomplishment in commercial litigation, along with ethical reputation. Mr. Passarelli is a member of the Advisory Board of Litigation Counsel of America.

Mr. Passarelli has lectured, published articles and has acted as an expert in the fields of antitrust, intellectual property and commercial litigation

Awards & Recognitions

• American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow
• Martindale Hubbell® “AV” Rating
• The Best Lawyers in America©, multiple years through 2022
• The Best Lawyers in America©, Omaha “Lawyer of the Year,” Litigation – Intellectual Property, 2021
• The Best Lawyers in America©, Omaha “Lawyer of the Year,” Franchise Law,2017 and 2020   
• Chambers USA®, Leading Intellectual Property Attorney, Nebraska
• Great Plains Super Lawyers® 2007-2021
• Benchmark Litigation, One of Nebraska’s top commercial trial lawyers, published by Institutional Investor as a Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys
• Litigation Counsel of America, Fellow and member of the Advisory Board

Education

• J.D., Creighton University School of Law, magna cum laude
• B.S.B.A., Creighton University, magna cum laude

Admissions

• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Supreme Court of Nebraska
• U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
• U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
• U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska
• Nebraska

Memberships

• American Bar Association
• Nebraska Bar Association
• Omaha Bar Association
• International Trademark Association
• International Association of Defense Counsel
• Nebraska State Bar Foundation

Kutak Rock LLP

Kutak Rock LLP is a national law firm of more than 500 lawyers with offices from coast to coast. Our firm serves local, regional and national clients in a practice that spans a wide range of disciplines. We encourage our attorneys to take advantage of the national resources and broad range of expertise the firm offers in order to provide the best legal services possible to our clients.

The firm’s Intellectual Property and Information Technology Groups are comprised of dozens of business-savvy attorneys practicing coast to coast. Deeply invested in our clients’ business and innovation goals, we partner with emerging companies and mature companies alike to realize the full potential of intellectual property and market portfolios in all stages of the business life cycle.

Our technology portfolio legal services are national in scale, yet local in presence. Local market presence translates to a deep understanding of market competition, state and local laws and regulations, and jurisdictional factors that affect business economics and legal outcomes. Deeply experienced in all facets of creating, growing and protecting a portfolio of intellectual property and innovation, we consider ourselves vigilant advocates and defenders of your ideas and mind-share. It is our goal to position you for profit whether you’re in it for the long haul or consider yourselves temporary guardians of your brand or market solutions.

We represent clients in all aspects of IP protection, from investigating, securing, maintaining, exploiting and transferring IP rights to resolving IP disputes through complex litigation or mediation. Because our IP attorneys typically are also involved in developing strategies for litigation, we bring that experience to the table in developing comprehensive offensive and defensive IP strategies. As IP becomes increasingly important to distinguish a company from its competitors, our big-picture approach allows us fiercely to protect our clients’ IP assets (e.g. patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, etc.). Our body of work in the IP field provides us with the insight and tools to handle all types of cases, large or small, complex or straightforward. We bring this depth, strategic vision, technical understanding and legal expertise to each of our clients.

Because intellectual property plays such a prominent role in today’s evolving business environment, our team of IP attorneys regularly advises our clients in all aspects of patent law, including patent-ability searches and opinions, right to use opinions, non-infringement and invalidity opinions, patent prosecution and maintenance, and preservation for prior use rights of unpatented inventions.