In 2011, Michael Williams of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan was introduced to an entrepreneur, Kumar Ogale, who had a remarkable story to tell. Ogale said he’d commercialized a groundbreaking manufacturing process for a filtration material used in respirators. But, he claimed, 3M Company stole his work, patented his technology, and then sued Ogale for infringing it.

Williams spent the next three years battling 3M on behalf of Ogale’s company, TransWeb. This week, he and fellow Quinn Emanuel partner Harold Barza vindicated Ogale’s claims in a ruling worth more than $26 million.