CORRECTION, 8/12/13, 10:15 a.m. EDT: The first, second, and fourth paragraphs below have been updated to clarify how many attorneys have joined Winston & Strawn from Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner. It is four. We regret the error.
Winston & Strawn has grabbed a four-partner litigation team from intellectual property firm Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner that specializes in technology patent cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission.
The Washington, D.C.–based team is made up of partners JOHN ALISON, STEVEN ANZALONE, PAUL GOULET, and THOMAS JARVIS. The lawyers primarily work for clients in the smartphone and wireless communications industry, including the Taiwanese smartphone provider HTC. (Legal blog Above the Law first broke the news of the group's departure July 31, and Winston confirmed the hire this week.)
Winston's D.C. office managing partner Thomas Buchanan cites the group's aptitude in handling section 337 litigation before the ITC as one of the main reasons the firm hired them. "We've had a lot of 337 issues over the years," Buchanan says. "Clients request this, and we have lost out on matters our firm would otherwise have represented if we had such a group in the past."
Jarvis says his team chose Winston over other law firms because of its strong patent trial litigation practice. He added: "The firm is also very cost-effective. Our clients will now get big bang for their buck." Jarvis said his group is in the process of hiring approximately 10 attorneys from law firms and other sources to join the team.
The losses for Finnegan come four months after five Finnegan trademark attorneys ended their time at the firm to start their own Washington, D.C.–based intellectual property boutique called Kelly IP.
In other Churn news . . .
Dickinson Wright has brought in MICHAEL PASSELLA as of counsel in its Columbus office. Passella will practice in the areas of public and private construction law, commercial litigation, and real estate. He was most recently at Dinsmore & Shohl.
Greenberg Traurig has a new shareholder in Chicago, PAMELA SMITH. The firm hired her from Katten Muchin Rosenman to join its global litigation practice. A trial lawyer, Smith handles primarily securities and breach of fiduciary duty cases.
BRYAN JUNG has returned to Holland & Knight after leaving in 2011 to found financial services firm Whittier Hill, which closed when he rejoined the law firm. He is now senior counsel at Holland & Knight in the firm's financial services practice group and will be based out of both Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Florida.
Holland & Knight has also hired VICTOR SALERNO III as a partner in its New York office's real estate practice. He comes to the firm from Mayer Brown.
ELEANOR THOMPSON is now special counsel in McCarter & English's Philadelphia office, practicing for its health care insurance group. She was last at Dilworth Paxson.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius has added new partner CHARLES HORN to its Washington, D.C., office. Horn, who joins the banking regulation practice, moves from Morrison & Foerster.
STEVEN OLSON has returned to O'Melveny & Myers and is once again a partner in its white-collar defense and corporate investigations practice in Los Angeles. He last was at the firm in 2011, and has come back after most recently serving as a senior adviser to then–U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson and as executive director of SelectUSA, an initiative by President Barack Obama to create more jobs for American workers. He initially left O'Melveny to work in-house at firm client Aletheia Research & Management.
Perkins Coie is bulking up its Dallas office with new partner ANN PAINTER. She comes to the firm from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and joins Perkins Coie's labor and employment practice.
Thompson Hine has hired two new attorneys, MICHAEL COLEMAN as a partner and TARA EVANS as counsel. Coleman will be in the firm's corporate transactions and securities practice in Atlanta. Evans is also in the firm's corporate group, handling mergers and acquisitions, general corporate law, and commercial finance matters. The attorneys moved over from Epstein Becker & Green's recently shuttered Atlanta office. (Sibling publication Daily Report has more on where Epstein's Atlanta lawyers landed.)
