JD Journal » intellectual property practice

Leading Patent Litigator Joins Sheppard Mullin as Co-Chair of IP Practice Group

rebneely — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:01:13 +0000

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.

Jones Day Adds Two Partners to IP Practice in Irvine Office

rebneely — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:00:03 +0000

Law firm Jones Day announced recently that both Martha Gooding and Michael Stimson have joined as partners in its Intellectual Property Practice, in the Irvine Office.

Both join from Howrey, where they were members of the firm’s IP Group.

Joe Sims, the Jones Day partner responsible for coordinating the Firm’s activities in California was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “Martha and Michael are experienced IP litigators who provide even deeper strength for our firm in the California region. Together with the addition earlier this year of Bill Rooklidge and Frank Cote as IP partners in Irvine – both of whom were formerly partners in Howrey’s Irvine office – Jones Day now has 64 attorneys in our IP Practice in California and 266 attorneys in the group worldwide. This is one of the largest and most experienced, full-service global IP practice groups at any law firm in the world.”

Martha Gooding has nearly 30 years of experience representing clients in a wide range of complex disputes, including patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation litigation. An experienced litigator, she has tried cases in federal and state courts. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of the California Bar Foundation, she formerly served as President of both the Federal Bar Association of Orange County and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers of Orange County. She is also a former member of the ABA House of Delegates, and a former co-chair of the Federal Practice Task Force of the ABA Litigation Section.

The numerous awards she has received include being named a Southern California Super Lawyer, being selected for the Daily Journal’s Top Women Litigators list and the Best Lawyers in America list, and receiving the 2009 ADL Marcus Kaufman Jurisprudence Award. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Michael Stimson, Ph.D., focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation and appeals and reexaminations, appeals, and patent interference proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. His litigation experience includes trade secret and patent trials and arbitrations, and appellate experience including appeals to the Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Ninth Circuit. Stimson has been the successful leader of several high stakes intellectual property litigation teams. He has handled cases regarding a broad range of technologies including hard disk drives, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, polymer chemistry, cement chemistry, and computer telephony. He received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Founded in 1893, Jones Day is an international law firm with over 2,500 lawyers. The firm acts as principal outside counsel to, or provides significant legal representation for, more than half of the Fortune Global 500 companies. It is also the eighth largest law firm in the world by revenue, and the fourth highest grossing firm in the United States. In California alone, Jones Day has over 320 lawyers in its San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Irvine, and San Diego offices.

Lathrop & Gage Expands in Boston, Hires 3 New IP Partners

marvins — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:21:37 +0000

Lathrop & Gage opened a new office in downtown Boston, Massachusetts as part of its aggressive plan to expand its intellectual property practice and boost its national presence. The new Boston office is joined by three partners and two technical specialists who all have broad knowledge in pharmaceutical and biotechnology patent law. The three IP partners, who previously worked at another IP boutique, Lahive & Cockfield, are: Giulio A. DeConti, Brian C. Trinque and James H. Velema. The two new technical specialists, David F. Cauble and Andrew T. Wilkins, were also formerly part of Lahive & Cockfield. The new Boston office, located at 28 State Street, is the firm’s twelfth domestic office.

Joel Voran, Chief Executive Officer of Lathrop & Gage, said that the entire firm is excited to open the new office in Boston. “Intellectual property has and continues to be a significant driver for our firm both in terms of new business and lateral expansion. It is part of our firm’s ongoing strategic growth plan and we are excited to open another office focused on the IP needs of our clients.”

DeConti said that his decision to join Lathrop & Gage is attributed to the firm’s strong reputation in the legal sector. “Joining Lathrop & Gage gives us the opportunity to continue to do top-level IP boutique work but with the added strength of a large firm having excellent corporate and litigation capabilities.”

Morning Roundup

joshua — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 01:51:32 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Wednesday, November 17th. Here’s a quick look back at yesterday’s headlines.

Jones Day added three partners and three registered patent agents in Southern Calfornia…

Former Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, George H. Lowe, joined Brown Rudnick…

Former Health Policy Director Mark Hayes joined Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder in the firm’s Washington, DC office…

Jones Day Adds Three Partners and Three Registered Patent Agents in Southern Calfornia

joshua — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 01:38:17 +0000

Jones Day announced that three more partners and three registered patent agents have joined the Firm in Southern California. The attorneys will provide additional strength to the Firm’s Securities Litigation and Intellectual Property practices in the California region.

So far this year, the Firm has added 15 partners in its five California offices: one in San Francisco, four in Silicon Valley, one in Los Angeles, three in Irvine, and six in San Diego. Jones Day now has more than 300 lawyers in California.

Roman E. Darmer will be joining Jones Day as a partner in Irvine as a member of the Securities Litigation & SEC Enforcement Practice. He is currently a partner in the Orange County office of Howrey LLP.

In San Diego, Astrid R. Spain and David A. Gay, Ph.D. will be joining as partners, and Deborah L. Cadena, Victor Behar, and Micheal L. Hebert, who are all Ph.D.s, will be joining as patent agents in the firm’s IP Property practice. All five join from the San Diego office of McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

In the press release at the firm’s site, Joe Sims, the Jones Day partner responsible for coordinating the Firm’s activities in California, was quoted as saying: “The addition of these talented lawyers provides us with even greater depth of experience on the West Coast in the securities litigation, biotech, and pharmaceutical space. The fact that we continue to attract some very accomplished lawyers in California is making it possible to broaden and deepen the services we offer — in California and around the world — and to open opportunities for improved client service to our existing clients and for the creation of potential new relationships.”

Mr. Darmer has represented a range of clients in civil and criminal investigations, and has supervised numerous internal investigations on behalf of corporations and board committees. He has extensive experience handling SEC enforcement actions and white collar criminal matters, and also handles a wide range of complex civil litigation.

Ms. Spain’s practice spans patent counseling, prosecution, and litigation in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries.

Dr. Gay focuses his practice on pharmaceutical and biotechnology intellectual property law.

Among the patent agents, Dr. Cadena focuses her practice on all aspects of life sciences and biotechnology and has 13 years of experience prosecuting patents.

Jones Day is a global law firm with more than 2,500 lawyers, including over 400 in Europe and 200 in Asia, located in 32 centers of business and finance throughout the world. In California, Jones Day has more than 300 lawyers in five offices – San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Irvine, and San Diego.

Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan Adds To IP Team

joshua — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:15:55 +0000

Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP, one of the nation’s largest minority-owned law firms, has added two partners to its intellectual property practice. They are Neil P. Calvin, formerly of Microsoft, and Albert S. Michalik.

Calvin is a registered patent attorney focusing on patent/intellectual property licensing. Calvin was Associate General Counsel and Director of Patent Licensing at Microsoft Corp. for nearly nine years. In addition to supporting patent/IP issues for Windows, he formed and led Microsoft’s Patent Licensing Team and focused on IP issues in the areas of standards, open source software, outbound patent licenses, cross licenses, OEM software licensing, and joint development deals.

Michalik is a registered patent attorney with experience in all aspects of intellectual property law and a special emphasis on the preparation and prosecution of software and hardware-related patent applications. Michalik’s prior legal experience includes founding and growing his own law firm, where he represented Microsoft, among other clients. Prior to that, Michalik worked as a patent attorney in the Chicago office of Leydig, Voit and Mayer, Ltd.

Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP is a nationwide law firm with more than 100 attorneys in offices located in Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Des Moines, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Nashville, New York, Phoenix, Washington D.C., and Wayne, New Jersey.

Have An Idea To Protect? Go To Ropes & Gray

eric — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:04:53 +0000

If your company needs top notch representation to protect its intellectual property, then look no further than the Boston based Ropes & Gray LLP. Chambers’ has named it number one in the field for 2010. Its USA publication, available today, ranks the leading firms and lawyers in an extensive range of practice areas throughout America.

With more than 130 years of experience serving individual inventors and industry innovators, Ropes & Gray’s IP Group has built on the legacy of Fish & Neave, the IP boutique it merged with in 2005, to become one of the highest rated, consistently rewarded, and most respected IP practices in the profession. The Intellectual Property Group provides a full range of IP rights and management services from licensing and transactions to rights protection and full-scale litigation. Its IP team has more than 200 lawyers, 43 patent agents and technical advisors and 34 paralegals.

With over 1,000 attorneys, Ropes & Gray is a leading global law firm with offices in Boston, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Tokyo, and Washington, DC.

Revenues Up, PPP down at Perkins Coie

sara — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:29:08 +0000

Perkins Coie reported that its profits increased to $433 million or 2.06%, in 2009, but profits per equity partner decreased a quarter of a percentage to $802,111. Revenue per lawyer also declined to $646,295 or 1.28%. Real estate and transactional business declined but managing partner Robert Giles believes the firm had a “flat year” offset by a great deal of activity in its litigation and intellectual property practice. Giles also believe that cost cutting helped the firm. 8% was cut from the firm’s budget by delaying technology and infrastructure upgrades, allowing staff to reduce their work hours and laying off 12 attorneys and staff members in April.

Founded in 1912, Perkins Coie is a Seattle based firm with 700 attorneys. The firm has 15 offices internationally including Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Beijing, Denver, Shanghai, San Francisco, Portland, Phoenix, Menlo Park, Madison, Boise, Bellevue, and Anchorage.

Seyfarth Shaw Hires for IP, Corporate in Atlanta

Erik Even — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:46:23 +0000

Seyfarth Shaw has added lawyers to its intellectual property and corporate & finance groups in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jack D. Todd joins as a partner from Morris, Manning & Martin. His practice concentrates on patent and trademark prosecution, strategic counseling, enforcement and protection of IP, transactional, licensing, opinion, and clearance. His JD is from Duke University School of Law.

Kevin T. Brown joins as of counsel from Macon, Georgia’s Sell & Melton. His practice focuses on representing governmental issuers of securities and private borrowers in conduit incentive financing transactions; general state and local government representation; ad valorem taxation; corporate transactions relating to public/private partnerships, and related real estate matters. His JD is from the Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law.

Chicago’s Seyfarth Shaw LLP is a full-service law firm founded in 1945. It has ten offices.

K&L Gates Brings on Partners

Erik Even — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:39:32 +0000

Charles D. Holland joins K&L Gates from Morrison & Foerster as a partner in the Palo Alto office. He focuses on intellectual property matters. He has extensive experience in patent prosecution, portfolio review and strategic advice, ex-parte and inter-partes reexaminations, interferences, non-infringement and invalidy analyses and opinions, due diligence reviews for companies and investors, pre-litigation and litigation analyses and assistance, and design-around analyses and advice.

His JD is from the Santa Clara University School of Law.

Vincent Pisano joins from Paul Hastings as a partner in New York. He focuses on securities and mergers & acquisitions matters. He has significant experience representing corporations and investment banks in their public and private offerings, US & international transactions, initial public offerings, high yield debt offerings, special product development and leveraged buyout and other acquisition financings.

He is a graduate of the St. John’s University School of Law.

K&L Gates LLP is a US law firm with over 1700 attorneys worldwide, and is ranked as the 10th largest law firm in the world.

Paul Hastings Hires IP Team from Skadden

Erik Even — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:51:45 +0000

Paul Hastings has hired a team of three IP attorneys from Skadden.

Jeff Randall joins Paul Hastings’ Palo Alto and Washington DC offices, as co-chair of the firm’s Global Intellectual Property Practice. He represents companies in multi-billion-dollar intellectual property cases. He earned his JD from the University of California Hastings College of Law.

Allan Soobert joins in Washington DC. He represents major technology companies in patent disputes before trial and appellate courts across the United States. His JD is from the Franklin Pierce Law Center where he was editor of IDEA, The Journal of Law and Technology. He received his LL.M in Intellectual Property from George Washington University Law School.

Jeff Pade also joins in Washington DC. He has represented clients in patent litigation matters before arbitration panels, federal district courts and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. His JD is also from the Franklin Pierce Law Center.

Founded in Los Angeles in 1951, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP is a leading international law firm with over 1,300 attorneys and 18 offices worldwide. Paul Hastings serves a diverse client base that includes many top financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies.

Law Firm Hirings & Firings

Erik Even — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:19:34 +0000

Recent laterals and layoffs in the legal sector:

Salem Katsh joins Schnader Harrison from private practice as as a partner in its New York intellectual property group. Katsh previously chaired the IP groups at Weil Gotshal & Manges and Shearman & Sterling. More recently, he was the chair of the IP group at Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman.

Michael Piazza joins Greenberg Traurig from Dorsey & Whitney. He is a former Regional Trial Counsel for the Los Angeles office of the SEC. Piazza joins Greenberg Traurig’s securities litigation practice group as head of the Irvine, California office’s practice. His JD is from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Thomas J. Durling joins Flaster Greenberg’s Philadelphia from DLA Piper, as a shareholder in the IP practice. Durling’s practice focuses on patent procurement, due diligence, intellectual property litigation and client counseling within the mechanical engineering field. His JD is from the Widener University School of Law.

Lathrop & Gage Hiring for New Chicago Office

Erik Even — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:21:46 +0000

Lathrop & Gage has hired two Sonnenschein partners to launch its new Chicago office, its 11th — and plans “aggressive recruiting.”

Blaine Kimrey will be managing partner in Chicago, joining Lathrop’s intellectual property practice. He is joined by associate Bryan Clark.

The oldest law firm west of the Mississippi River, Kansas City, Missouri’s Lathrop & Gage provides litigation and business law services with 300 attorneys in 11 offices in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Washington DC.

McKool Smith Nabs 3 IP Lawyers from Dewey & LeBoeuf

Erik Even — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:18:59 +0000

Dallas, Texas-based law firm McKool Smith has nabbed three intellectual property lawyers away from Dewey & LeBoeuf.

Dewey IP litigation co-chair Dirk Thomas, partner Robert Auchter, and of counsel Jeffrey Frey joined McKool Smith as partners on July 1st. They are working out of Washington, DC, bringing the number of McKool Smith lawyers there to seven.

McKool Smith has offices in Dallas, Austin and Marshall, Texas; plus New York City and Washington DC.

Law Firm Hirings & Firings

Erik Even — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:34:44 +0000

Recent laterals and layoffs in the legal sector:

Tom Reilly joins Cooley Manion Jones in Boston, from Greenberg Traurig. He joins the firm as of counsel. Cooley is a former two-term Massachusetts state attorney general

Gordon Peilow joins the City of London’s Cubism Law, where he will advise on trademark & copyright matters, IT contracts & litigation, and employment law issues in the IT sector. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford.

Denton Aud joins Carmi, Illinois’ Endicott, Finch & Barnhart from private practice. He earned his JD at Southern Illinois University School of Law. He was recently appointed the conflict public defender for White County, meaning when regular public defender Jerry Crisel has a conflict that precludes him from taking a public defender case, Aud is called upon by the court.

Virtual Law Partners Hires Four Attorneys

Erik Even — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:07:57 +0000

Virtual Law Partners, which hired five new partners four weeks ago, has this week brought on four new partners for its commercial lending and intellectual property practices.

David Lawson joins from Troutman Sanders, where he was a partner, to chair Virtual Law’s commercial lending practice. He earned his JD from the University of Southern California Law Center.

Janyce Mitchell joins from Strategic Patent Group, where she was a vice president. She received her JD from the UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law, and her MS and C. Phil in Physics from the University of California, San Diego.

Stephen Sullivan also joins from Strategic Patent, where he was president. He will focus on patent prosecution for software companies. His JD is from the Santa Clara University School of Law.

David Roise joins from Ropes & Gray, where he was an associate. He is a former assistant professor of biochemistry and cellular biology at UC San Diego. He specializes in patent law. He earned his Ph.D in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his JD from Stanford Law School.

Founded in 2008, Virtual Law Partners is a distributed, web-based law firm that goes beyond the constraints of brick & mortar law firms to provide legal services at rates lower than those of conventional law firms. Powered by a digital infrastructure, VLP eliminates costly physical offices and minimizes environmental impact, while significantly lowering administrative costs and overhead.

Foley & Lardner Brings on New Partners

Erik Even — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:06:37 +0000

Foley & Lardner announced two new hires this week.

Jeffrey Thrope joins in New York from Manatt Phelps & Phillips as a partner in the firm’s health care practice. He represents hospitals, nursing homes, public health facilities, not-for-profits, and other health care providers.

Etsuo Doi joins in Tokyo from Paul Hastings as a partner in the intellectual property practice. He will co-head the office with Michael D. Kaminski.

Foley & Lardner LLP is an international general practice law firm started in 1842 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It employs 1,000 attorneys, and is the 24th largest firm in the United States.

Foley & Lardner Adds Lowrie Lando IP Team

Erik Even — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:43:09 +0000

Foley & Lardner has brought on three intellectual property lawyers for its Boston office.

Matthew B. Lowrie and Aaron W. Moore join as partners in the firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation Practice; Robert J. Silverman joins as senior counsel.

Lowrie was a founding partner of Lowrie, Lando & Anastasi, where Moore and Silverman were also partners.

Foley & Lardner’s intellectual property practice has nearly 240 attorneys.

Foley & Lardner LLP is an international general practice law firm started in 1842 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It employs 1,000 attorneys, and is the 24th largest firm in the United States.

Miller Canfield Opens New Mexico Office — That Is, a New Office in Mexico

Erik Even — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:49:04 +0000

Miller Canfield announced it is launching an office in Monterrey, Mexico, which is that nation’s automotive manufacturing and business center.

The office will focus on mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate and commercial transactions, labor & employment, tax, litigation and intellectual property law.

The Miller Canfield Mexico Practice Team is led by Alberto J. Murga, Otto H. Sampogna and Michele M. Compton. The team will be supported in the US by a team of lawyers with expertise in Mexican and international transactions and disputes, led by Richard A. Walawender.

Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone was established in Detroit in 1852 and has offices in Michigan, Illinois, Florida, New York, Canada, Poland, Mexico and China.

Jenner & Block Launches California Footprint

Erik Even — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:26:36 +0000

Jenner & Block has opened its first office in California.

Rick Richmond, a former partner from the Los Angeles office of Kirkland & Ellis, will run the Los Angeles office for Jenner. He is joined by partner Brent Caslin, also from Kirkland.

Both are joining Jenner’s intellectual property practice.

Jenner & Block is a US law firm with offices in Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC. Over 450 attorneys serve a wide range of clients in corporate litigation, business transactions, and in the public sector.

Fox Rothschild Hires Dreier Refugees

Erik Even — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:28:19 +0000

Fox Rothschild has hired the nine-lawyer Pastore Osterberg firm of Stamford, Connecticut, which was previously a Dreier LLC office.

The business litigation practice will be the 15th office for Phialdelphia’s Fox Rothschild.

Joe Pastore and Eric Osterberg, who handle securities, technology and intellectual property litigation, will serve as partners. Pastore will manage the office.

IN 2008 Fox Rothschild LLP was the ninth largest firm in Philadelphia, and the 103rd largest in the United States, according to the National Law Journal’s rankings.

Fox Rothschild now has 450 lawyers.

Luce Forward Poaches Greenberg Traurig IP Group

Erik Even — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:24:55 +0000

Luce Forward has confirmed that it has lured away the entire intellectual property group from the Orange County, California office of Greenberg Traurig.

IP practice heads Mark Krietzman and Peter Gluck brought their associates with them. Their practice was said to be the only profitable practice in Greenberg Traurig’s OC office for fiscal ’08 and fiscal ’09.

Luce Forward recently cut 12 attorneys and 15 staff positions.

The 135-year-old Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps has over 200 attorneys practicing throughout California, with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, Rancho Santa Fe and Irvine.

Kirkland & Ellis Revenue Up, Profits Flat

Erik Even — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:23:28 +0000

Am Law 100 firm Kirkland & Ellis saw an increase in revenue and flat profits per partner in the 2008 fiscal year.

Revenue rose 7% to $1.4 billion, and profit per partner was flat at $2.47 million. Revenue per lawyer fell 3% to $1.05 million.

Business for the firm’s large private equity group was down, but that was balanced by its strong practices in litigation, bankruptcy, and intellectual property.

The firm saw an 11% jump in head count, bringing its lawyer headcount to more than 1,300.

The firm increased its number of partners last year by 7%, from 509 to 545.

Bryan Cave Expands IP Practice

Erik Even — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:35:08 +0000

Bryan Cave has hired three new attorneys.

Chicago partner Greg Hummel, from Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, joins the real estate and banking client service group. He’ll handle real estate development and public-private partnerships.

In San Francisco, the firm has added intellectual property partner Marcy Bergman, and counsel Robert Padway, formerly co-chairs of the IP group at Cooper, White & Cooper. Bergman will handle trademark counseling, copyright, patent prosecution, and trade secret matters, and Padway will work on IP litigation.

Bryan Cave LLP is an international law firm with twenty-five offices worldwide, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. It employs round 1,200 attorneys.

Marshall Gerstein Attorney Establishes LGBT Scholarship

Erik Even — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:17:57 +0000

Jeremy D. Protas, an attorney with the intellectual property law firm of Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP, has announced the establishment of a patent law scholarship specifically for LGBT (“lesbian, gay, bisexual, & transgender”) law students intending to pursue careers in the field of patent law.

Candidates must be second-year students for the 2009-2010 academic year at an American Bar Association-accredited law school, and be eligible to sit for the patent bar exam.

Applications for the $1,000 scholarship are due July 31.

Protas joined the firm as a summer associate in 2003 and 2004, and in 2005 joined the firm as a full-time associate.

Chicago’s Marshall, Gerstein & Borun was ranked in the top 15% among 352 law firms as a “Top Patent Firm” by Intellectual Property Today (March 2008).

Irell & Manella Announces Salary Increases

Erik Even — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:33:53 +0000

Southern California’s Irell & Manella, an intellectual property litigation and general business litigation firm, has announced pay raises for its associates.

As many of you know, in recent days, a number of traditional California based firms have announced increases to the base salaries paid to their associates… So, we are pleased today to announce an increase in the base salaries we will pay to each of our associate classes, effective June 1, as follows (these figures are at an annualized level):

First Year (Class of 2006) — $160,000
Second Year (2005) — $170,000
Third Year (2004) — $185,000
Fourth Year (2003) — $210,000
Fifth Year (2002) — $230,000
Sixth Year (2001) — $250,000
Seventh Year (2000) — $265,000
Eighth Year (1999) — $280,000

The partners of the firm appreciate your hard-work and many contributions to the firm’s continuing success.

Irell & Manella LLP was founded in 1941 by lawyers Lawrence E. Irell and Arthur Manella, and has grown to 220 lawyers. It has offices in Century City and Newport Beach.

Calfee, Halter Dismisses Four Lawyers

Erik Even — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:44:42 +0000

Cleveland’s Calfee, Halter & Griswold dismissed four lawyers, a paralegal and another staffer. All were among Calfee’s 160 lawyers in Cleveland except one, a lawyer in the 15-lawyer Columbus office.

Calfee, a general business firm, has large practices in intellectual property law, capital markets and litigation.

“Their departures are a direct result of matching our head count with projected business,” Philip Dawson, the firm’s COO, said.

Perkins Coie Sues Ex-Associate Who Left for Rival Firm

Erik Even — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:10:57 +0000

Perkins Coie has filed a breach of contract suit against former intellectual property associate David Xue.

According to court documents, Xue left the firm for Goodwin Procter in September 2008. Perkins Coie wants to recoup about $36,000 it claims Xue owes the firm for advance payments towards his law school tuition and related expenses.

A letter of employment dated January 23, 2007, states that Xue was offered a position as a patent agent at Perkins Coie prior to his graduation from the University of San Francisco School of Law the following December.

In the interim, Xue, who has a Ph.D in electrical engineering and computer sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, would be paid an annual salary of $155,000 plus a $15,000 bonus if he billed 1,950 prorated hours that year.

Perkins Coie would advance Xue up to $30,000 as a loan for his law school tuition and expenses. The firm also agreed to reimburse Xue for a bar review course and fees for the California bar exam.

Upon Xue’s graduation from law school in December 2007, he would be offered a position as a fourth-year associate at the firm in light of his Ph.D and previous experience as a patent agent.

The letter also states that Perkins Coie would forgive Xue’s law school loans at a rate of 33 percent a year, provided he remain a full time employee of the firm and billed at least 1,850 hours a year. If Xue worked at the firm full time for three years, his entire repayment obligation would be forgiven.

Should Xue terminate his employment with the firm before the three-year period expired, he would be required to repay Perkins Coie for any amount that hadn’t been repaid or otherwise forgiven by the firm.

Perkins Coie is an international law firm based in Seattle, Washington. The firm is ranked number 86 on the list of the world’s largest law firms by 2006 revenue and has been listed on the Fortune Magazine “100 Best Places to Work in America” for the past seven years.[

Haynes & Boone Absorbs MacPherson Kwok

Erik Even — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:02:54 +0000

Dallas, Texas-based Am Law 200 firm Haynes and Boone is absorbing San Jose, California intellectual property boutique MacPherson, Kwok, Chen & Heid.

MacPherson Kwok , a 21-lawyer firm founded in 2002, is merging into Haynes and Boone, a corporate firm with more than 500 lawyers. The deal gives Haynes its first offices in California, in San Jose and Orange County.

All the MacPherson lawyers, patent agents, technical writers and staff are making the move together. The seven partners are joining Haynes as partners.

The MacPherson Kwok additions would bring Haynes’ IP practice to 70 lawyers.

MacPherson Kwok’s focus was IP and general business litigation, and writing patents and pursuing trademarks for clients such as Cisco, eBay and Samsung.

Haynes’ ultimate goal is to open in San Francisco.

Dreier Stein Lawyers to Found New Snell & Wilmer Office

Erik Even — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:18:42 +0000

At least eight lawyers from Dreier, Stein, Kahan, Browne, Woods, George are joining Phoenix, Arizona’s Snell & Wilmer, to open the latter firm’s first Los Angeles office.

The group consists of partners Marshall Horowitz, Susan Grueneberg, Jason S. Kim and Henry S. David, so far. Four associates from Dreier Stein will also join the new office on February 1st.

The Los Angeles office is looking for new business lawyers, litigators and intellectual property attorneys.

The move is the latest involving Dreier Stein, the Santa Monica-based affiliate of Dreier LLP, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month after its founder, Marc Dreier, was charged with investment fraud.

Last week, a group of entertainment litigators joined Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi’s Los Angeles office; while name partner Larry Stein, along with a few other partners and associates, jumped to what is now Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor.

Another name partner, Bob Kahan, left with up to eight lawyers for what is now Eisner, Frank & Kahan.

Snell & Wilmer was founded in 1938 by Frank Snell Jr. and Mark Wilmer. The firm is the largest in the state of Arizona and the 99th largest in the US by number of lawyers, according to the National Law Journal’s 2007 statistics.

Akerman Lawyers Found Florida Office for Novak Druce

Erik Even — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:30:26 +0000

Intellectual property boutique Novak Druce & Quigg is opening a new office in West Palm Beach, Florida with six attorneys it poached from Miami-based Akerman Senterfitt’s intellectual property practice.

The 60-attorney Novak Druce has locations in San Francisco, Washington and Houston.

The six attorneys leaving Akerman made up the core of the firm’s IP practice. J. Rodman Steele, Gregory Nelson, Jerold Schneider and Joseph Bain are joining Novak as senior partners, while John Vetter is joining as a partner and Gregory Lefkowitz is joining as a senior associate. All six worked in Akerman’s West Palm Beach office.

Steele founded Akerman’s IP practice more than 20 years ago, and Schneider is currently the co-chairman of its IP litigation practice. Bain and Nelson also have held leadership positions.

The departure of its IP group is the latest problem for Akerman, which had a difficult 2008. Merger talks with Phillie’s Wolf Block broke down in September. Several attorneys were laid off from the firm in November.

It did, however, serve as lead counsel for the $11 billion merger of two waste management companies at the end of 2008.

Novak’s West Palm Beach office will open on February 2nd.