New York partner Heather McDonald is noted extensively in the recently published book, Sonia Sotomayor: The True American Dream, by Antonia Felix, in the chapter, "A Fendi Crush."
McDonald, who specializes in intellectual property enforcement and anti-counterfeiting litigation, worked with Sotomayor when Sotomayor was with the firm of Pavia & Harcourt. McDonald, who was working for another firm at the time, and Sotomayor collaborated with other attorneys and private security companies on anticounterfeiting efforts, on behalf of their respective clients, in New York City. According to the book, McDonald met Sotomayor in 1987 at a conference of the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition. "We instantly hit it off, talking about our clients and the similar problems we were having," said McDonald. "We joined forces on the enforcement front because it was more cost effective and made a bigger impact."
According to the book, having focused on anti-counterfeiting over the past three decades, McDonald "is a legend in Chinatown, where she is known as the Dragon Lady. Her photo is taped to the walls and counters of the shops that line Canal Street, including one that contains a red, slashed-out circle imposed over her image as if to say, 'Watch Out for this Woman—She Will Take Your Stuff!'"
McDonald and Sotomayor were part of numerous raids on Chinatown shops and vendors, all of which were potentially dangerous situations, but Sotomayor would later note that she enjoyed the anticounterfeiting work more than any of her other work at Pavia & Harcourt.
In 1990, McDonald also worked with Sotomayor and the chief intellectual property lawyer at Chanel to lobby the New York legislature to adopt a state trademark counterfeiting law. McDonald said that working with the state legislature was interesting yet frustrating because the nuts and bolts of the process was more complex and full of variables then they had expected. "You go there thinking very idealistically, 'You've got a problem and we've got a solution,'" McDonald said, "but there was so much deal making and back door negotiating to try to get something done."
When the bill passed in 1991, according to the book, Sotomayor and McDonald reacted like gung-ho litigators. "I remember," McDonald said, "having a conversation with her in which we said, 'Now we have to get somebody arrested under this law.'" They had accomplished a feat that brought state law enforcement to bear in the war on counterfeiting, dramatically changing the playing field. Although they were too busy to throw a party, they could pat themselves on the back every time they charged someone under the statute.