Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP recently announced that Nagendra “Nick” Setty joined the firm as co-chair of the firm’s 70 attorney IP practice group.  He will work out of the firm’s Palo Alto and San Francisco offices. 

Setty joins from Fish & Richardson. There, he founded and was managing principal of its Atlanta office and resided part-time in its Silicon Valley office. He follows Stephen S. Korniczky, co-chair of Sheppard Mullin’s IP practice, who joined

 last year from Paul Hastings, where he was global chair of its IP practice group. 

Setty has an international practice representing leading global businesses such as Bank of America, Cipla, Cisco, EchoStar, Landis + Gyr, LG, McKesson, Samsung, Siemens and Verint.  He focuses his practice on litigating jury, bench and arbitration trials in patent, trademark, trade secrets, and copyright cases. During the past twenty years, he has served as lead counsel in more than 120 intellectual property cases, which have spanned a broad range of technologies. Setty is a frequent lecturer and author on IP related topics, and is recognized for his IP litigation expertise in Chambers USA.

Guy N. Halgren, chairman of Sheppard Mullin was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “Nick is an extremely experienced, high profile patent litigator. He brings a sophisticated patent litigation practice to our Palo Alto and San Francisco Offices and strengthens our global IP capabilities. Nick is yet another excellent addition to our firm as we continue to build our nationally recognized IP team.”

Setty was quoted as saying: “I am extremely excited about joining Sheppard Mullin’s global platform.  It’s clear to me that the firm is on the rise.  I am incredibly impressed with its strategic plan and collegial and entrepreneurial culture. I look forward to helping Sheppard Mullin strengthen and build its growing reputation as a top tier IP practice.”

Stephen S. Korniczky was quoted as saying: “Nick is an incredible addition to our IP team and we are thrilled to have him on board. He is a leader with a history of building top notch IP practices, and has 20 years of experience successfully litigating “big ticket” patent disputes.  Equally important, he is genuinely a really nice guy.”

Korniczky is a trial lawyer who concentrates his practice on patent litigation and strategic counseling on patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright matters. He has litigated over 100 patent and other IP lawsuits, including some of the largest multi-patent infringement actions in the United States. He has invalidated numerous patents asserted against his clients and possesses significant experience in handling nationwide patent and trademark enforcement campaigns against multiple infringers. He represents internationally based, publicly traded and emerging companies in many areas, including in the life sciences, medical device, computer, mobile communications, internet/e-commerce and consumer electronics industries.

Founded in 1927 in Los Angeles, California in 1927, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is an AmLaw 100 law firm with more than 550 attorneys in 10 offices in the United States and one in Shanghai.

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Steven Fagell, deputy chief of staff for Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer will leave to return to Covington & Burling LLP…

Stanford Dean Larry Kramer’s goal is to move past Yale and Harvard into the top spot on the U.S. News rankings…

Greenberg Traurig added an ex-health department official to its health and FDA business practice…

Sheppard Mullin added three partners to the firm’s Labor and Employment practice group…

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck hired three top Vegas commercial litigation attorneys from Jones Vargas…

Kaye Scholer added three partners from Dewey & LeBoeuf…

Cozen O’Connor announced it added a 15-lawyer team from Sher & Blackwell to its Washington D.C. office…

Steptoe & Johnson will put a significantly expanded energy practice  into action…

Chambers USA recognized Cohen & Grigsby attorneys, and practice group…

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In a press release announcing the move, Guy N. Halgren, chairman of Sheppard Mullin, said the firm has  “one of the biggest and best employment practices in California, and this group further strengthens the capabilities of one of our signature practice groups.”

Kaufman is a wage/hour specialist and has handled more than eighty class actions for a wide variety of industries, including banks and mortgage lenders, hospitals, large newspapers, information technology companies, restaurants, and other retailers. Kaufman also is experienced in litigating employment discrimination cases, including winning several jury trials. H

Gallion is a seasoned employment litigator and counselor. He has significant experience handling complex employment litigation, including California wage and hour class actions and nationwide discrimination class actions.

Fisch has extensive experience in all aspects of employment litigation, and has successfully defended management before federal and state courts and administrative agencies in defense of complaints for class action and single-plaintiff matters, involving wage-and-hour violations, wrongful termination, and discrimination.

Sheppard Mullin has 200 attorneys based in its Los Angeles offices and its Labor and Employment practice group includes 75 attorneys firmwide. Overall, Sheppard Mullin has 550 attorneys in 11 offices throughout the United States and Asia.

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Each of you is aware of what is going on in the world economy in general, and in the legal market in particular. The Executive Committee and our Firm’s senior managerial and financial officers, Bob Zuber and Kevin Combs, have been working hard over the past several months to ensure Sheppard Mullin’s continued financial strength through the current economic downturn. We feel it is critical to rigorously control expenses during these times. As part of our management of expenses, we have decided to “freeze” Associate compensation for 2009. This means your base compensation will be the same as in 2008. Special Counsel and Senior Attorney compensation will also be frozen, with minor exceptions.

We trust you understand this decision is a reflection of the market and not how we value any of you. We are very proud of our attorneys and the superior service, quality and value you provide to our clients.

Bob Zuber and I will be making our annual State of the Firm presentations in each office at the end of January and beginning of February. As usual, we will have an open forum to address any questions you have. Should you have any questions in the meantime, please direct them to Robert Beall, Bob Neufeld, Bob Zuber or me.

Thank you for your hard work and many contributions in 2008 and best wishes to all of you for 2009.

-Guy [N. Halgren] and The Executive Committee

I’m not sure why “Guy” felt the “need” to place the “word” “freeze” in “quotes.” But I’m sure associates will “love” his “friendly” and “avuncular” “style” as they sell off their home gym equipment to “pay” “off” their student loans.

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