Chicago-based McDermott Will & Emery, which has Texas offices in Houston and Dallas, is launching an office in Austin and hiring an eight-partner intellectual property group from Baker Botts.

Firms in Texas have been aggressively hiring IP lawyers, particularly in Austin, which is located in the Western District of Texas, a hotspot for IP litigation, because of U.S. District Judge Alan Albright’s court in Waco. A number of Big Law firms have opened offices in Austin to take advantage of the robust IP market.