Julia Love writes for The Recorder, an American Lawyer sibling publication.
Douglas Lumish and his team of IP litigators finally arrived at Latham & Watkins on Thursday. Lumish, fellow Silicon Valley partners Gabriel Gross and Jeffrey Homrig and New York partner Michael Eisenberg gave notice to Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman in early February. But as they were the only partners in the firm’s two-year-old Valley office, Kasowitz which has a 90-day notice period in its partnership agreement decided it needed to take that time to rebuild, partner Aaron Marks explained to Litigation Daily affiliate The Recorder in April.
Although the union between Lumish and Latham took time to materialize, both sides say it will be worth the wait. IP litigation is a space in which Latham has been determined to grow. The firm has added 15 partners in the practice over the past three years, including a six-partner group from the Palo Alto office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in 2011. That team will eventually be succeeded by the partners from Kasowitz, who are in their 30s and 40s, said Maximilian Grant, global co-chair of Latham’s IP litigation practice. "We’re building a team that’s going to be good for a few generations," he said. Although Lumish will have to leave a few clients behind due to conflicts, he is taking about 10 matters with him, including TransPerfect v. MotionPoint and Achates v. Apple. Grant said he expects the team to bring about a half-dozen associates, between Kasowitz’s Silicon Valley and New York offices.
