SAN FRANCISCO ­— Carroll, Burdick & McDonough has been shedding lawyers even as the S.F. business and litigation firm continues to focus on international expansion.

Most recently, Oakland law firm Fitzgerald Abbott & Beardsley poached John Gardner, the head of Carroll, Burdick’s corporate and real estate transactions group. Last October, Hanson Bridgett recruited patent litigator Robert McFarlane in San Francisco. McFarlane had been chairman of Carroll, Burdick’s patent and IP litigation team.