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3 Firms Dominate In IP Litigation, GCs Say
By Linda Chiem
Law360, New York (September 10, 2013, 12:57 PM ET) -- Jones Day, Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Morrison &
Foerster LLP are the top three firms picked by corporate counsel as their go-to firms for intellectual
property matters, thanks to their fierce and aggressive approach to high-stakes litigation, according to a
new survey.
Largely because of their expansive resources, tailored legal strategies and high success rates in highprofile IP litigation, Jones Day, Kirkland & Ellis and Morrison & Foerster were selected as the IP litigation
"powerhouses" by about 300 corporate counsel interviewed by The BTI Consulting Group Inc., based in
Wellesley, Mass., for its BTI Litigation Outlook 2014 report.
The three IP litigation powerhouses all fill their IP attorney rosters with trial-savvy, technologically adept
and knowledge-driven trial attorneys, patent prosecutors and litigators. Those are key components of an
IP litigation heavyweight most valued by corporate counsel seeking to prosecute or defend patents,
copyrights and trademarks as well as pursue licensing, trade secrets or other IP matters, according to
the survey.
“It’s experience-based,” BTI Consulting President Michael Rynowecer told Law360 of the firms’
successes in IP litigation. “Where you have such high-risk, high-stakes litigation such as IP, it brings
velocity to the matter. That’s why you see active IP litigation and larger, high-profile cases.”
Jones Day, which BTI also singled out as being one of its “fearsome foursome” firms whose dogged
tenacity in high-stakes litigation strikes fear in the heart of opponents, has about 250 IP attorneys, at
least half of whom focus specifically on IP litigation, out of a total of 2,400 attorneys worldwide.
Brian Poissant, a New York-based partner and co-head of Jones Day’s intellectual property practice, told
Law360 that the firm has earned a distinction for having a truly global, full-service IP practice group with
robust IP practices in locations including Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Its litigation prowess and success can be attributed to Jones Day’s one-firm culture, in which the best
attorneys are assigned to particular cases regardless of who generated the business or the client lead,
Poissant said.
“The best people are put on the cases to accomplish the best results,” Poissant said. “It is opposite of
the euphemistic ‘you eat what you kill’ culture at other firms. We put the best people on it depending
the nature of the client, the location of the case and the court. Nobody comes in and says, 'That’s my
client so that’s my case.'”
Additionally, the firm has had a rich tradition of a strong litigation and trial practice and the tenacity at
which the firm tackles IP matters hasn’t changed, despite the growing spotlight on patent cases,
according to Anthony Insogna, a San Diego-based partner and co-head of the IP practice.
“Our tradition of representing innovators or companies that are inventing and coming up with new
products or medicines or things that are changing the world hasn’t changed,” he said.
Kirkland & Ellis, yet another BTI “fearsome foursome,” maintains a diverse IP practice with 270 IP
attorneys — out of a total of 1,600 attorneys firmwide — spread across offices in New York, Chicago,
London, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Greg Arovas, co-head of Kirkland’s IP practice group, told Law360 that the firm maintains an active and
diverse trial practice, taking on large-scale plaintiff and defense IP cases as well as cases before the
International Trade Commission, among others.
"Certainly, one of the defining characteristics of the group is that we have a trial-focused approach to
cases,” he said. “We have an assumption with most cases that they are going to go to trial.”
Arovas said Kirkland’s skilled IP attorneys all tackle litigation as a way of furthering or getting rid of
obstacles to the bigger business objectives of the client.
"Trying to understand the business objectives of the client is important because often, IP litigation is
part of the bigger business strategy of the client," Arovas said. "So trying to not just look at the legal
problems, but to keep in mind the business perspective to make the litigation serve the bigger goal as
opposed to looking at litigation as an entity by itself."
Morrison & Foerster, which has more than 300 IP attorneys out of the firm’s total 1,000 attorneys
worldwide, has built an IP litigation strategy on a successful marriage between two separate, yet
collaborative practice groups at the firm: the trial lawyers and patent prosecutors, according to Rachel
Krevans, co-chair of the IP practice group.
It’s that marriage that allows the firm to put forward sophisticated, well-informed legal strategies to
clients, many of whom are embroiled in high-stakes litigation or in a rapidly growing number of cases
coming from patent assertion entities, she said.
“The quality, strength and firepower and prosecution comes from the huge amount of talent that we
bring to the table in developing our cases strategically,” Krevans told Law360. “It lets us give clients very
sophisticated advice when we’re advising them both on litigation and on broader IP in which we step up
and drive the train.”
The BTI survey also listed as IP litigation “standouts” firms including Alston & Bird LLP, Baker Botts
LLP, DLA Piper, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP, Fish & Richardson PC, Foley &
Lardner LLP, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, Klarquist Sparkman LLP, Norton Rose Fulbright, Novak
Druce Connolly + Quigg LLP, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &
Sullivan LLP and WilmerHale.
--Editing by Jeremy Barker.
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