The pressure on the US’s dwindling band of niche IP firms stepped up last week as Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe raided Pennie & Edmonds for three partners, taking to seven the number of partners the New York firm has lost in the last month.

The partners who have left the firm for the San Francisco-based Orricks are Brian Coggio, Jennifer Gordon and Scot Familant. All three are patents litigation lawyers, specialising in biotechnology and pharmaceutical litigation.