January 29, 2001
THE CALIFORNIA LAW BUSINESS JOURNAL
MENLO PARK – Intellectual property lawyer Terry McMahon left the Menlo Park office of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe to become the West Coast intellectual property chair for Chicago’s McDermott Will & Emery. He joined the firm’s 13-lawyer Menlo Park office on Jan. 20.
Legal recruiter Lawrence Watanabe of Watanabe Nason & Seltzer brokered the deal for McDermott Will.
Just before the move, McMahon was set to become the head of Orrick Herrington’s 70-lawyer intellectual property practice, resident in its Menlo Park hub. McMahon had been co-leader with Larry Goodwin, a partner in the New York office, for the past year.
Orrick Herrington Chairman Ralph Baxter says the man overboard won’t affect his firm’s intellectual property practice, which has most of its lawyers in Silicon Valley and the next most in New York.
As for the managing the lawyers in that group, Baxter says that’s covered by the firm’s “advocacy” section chair, head of one of three “super groups” that contain all of the firm’s practice areas. “We wish him well, but it’s not a big deal,” Baxter says.
Business at the 500-lawyer Orrick Herrington, Baxter says, is booming. So much so that the firm will be opening a third Menlo Park office, with room for up to 120. McDermott Will has 900 lawyers in its 11 offices, with 100 practicing intellectual property law.