Summary: Already a top law firm, Greenberg Traurig is building their IP transactional group to be a powerful force with the addition of Joshua Walker.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett lost Joshua Walker to Greenberg Traurig where he will be an intellectual property transactional partner. Walker was counsel and leader of their Palo Alto IP transactions team.
Walker was first approached about joining the Greenberg team by his close personal friend and IP litigation star, Ian Ballon. Ballon Facebook messaged him several months ago. Walker entertained the idea saying “Pairing up with someone like Ballon – with me on the deal side and him on the litigation side – is sure to create some synergies.”
The managing shareholder for the Silicon Valley office, William Goines, utilizes the use of Facebook for the firm to communicate with recruits. They are currently putting more importance into building their IP transactional group but looking for recruits in all their practices.
Walker and Ballon share a quite a few clients in private-equity and technology companies. Greenberg’s international presence and IP practice of 180 lawyers will be a bonus for Walker’s clients like Stanford University and IDEO, a design firm. These clients often need work done in IP enforcement in other countries. Simpson Thacher’s IP group only has around 20 lawyers.
Some of Walker’s accomplishments included launching the Intellectual Property Clearinghouse for Stanford Law School. He will be working from the Austen, Texas and Silicon Valley offices.
Source: http://www.therecorder.com/home/id=1202731278713
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