August 30, 2001

THE SAN FRANCISCO DAILY JOURNAL

By Erik Cummins

SAN FRANCISCO – Perkins Coie, a Seattle firm with aspirations for prominence in the Silicon Valley, has landed another intellectual property partner.

Kenneth Wilson, a longtime IP litigator in the Valley, joins the firm’s Menlo Park office today after 10 years with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto.

Wilson, whose book of business is estimated at $1.5 million, announced his intentions to his former firm on Aug. 29. Managers there were unable to comment on his departure at press time.

Wilson is not related to the late firm co-founder, John Wilson.

At Perkins Coie, Edward Wes said he was pleased with the acquisition. Wes, who is the managing partner of the firm’s two Bay Area offices, described Wilson as a “terrifically well-connected IP litigator.”

Wilson has spent 14 years in intellectual property litigation, during which IP activity has been “tremendous,” said Wes.

“Ken has been right in the middle of it,” he added. Wilson’s clients include numerous well-established tech companies and dozens of start-ups.

His addition to Perkins, said Wes, “is part of our strategy to expand and be a leader in the IP field.”

Wilson said he joined Wilson Sonsini 10 years ago, when the firm still had a small IP group.

“I got to help build that group over a period of years into something exciting,” he said.

Likewise, he was attracted to the “collegial, supportive environment” at Perkins, and looks forward to building that firm’s small IP practice in the Bay Area.

“The idea of having a role in building something exciting again is invigorating,” he said.

The announcement follows Perkins’ acquisition of three IP associates from Wilson Sonsini in July. Those associates, Barbara Courtney, Richard Gregory and Michael Martinsen, all encouraged the firm to hire Wilson, but, according to Wes, it was San Francisco legal search consultant Joan Seltzer, of Watanabe, Nason & Seltzer, who initiated and brokered the transaction.

Also in July, Perkins acquired the small Palo Alto IP boutique Iota Pi Law Group, which was also known as Dehlinger & Associates. That move sent two lawyers and four patent agents to Perkins, which has 35 lawyers in Menlo Park and 24 in San Francisco.

Nationally, the 540-lawyer Perkins is known as a general service law firm. In the Bay Area, however, the firm focuses entirely on technology clients. Within that field, Wes said, IP litigation has been hot.

“IP litigation is really in a sweet spot,” he said. “Basically, with the dot com phenomenon over, people are going back to core technologies. [Intellectual property assets] have become something that companies can’t afford to overlook.”

This fall, he said, the firm will continue to grow as it welcomes seven new associates in the Bay Area. In Southern California, Wes said, the firm also picked up Bret Bocchieri, a prominent IP litigator.

Ken Wilson is among a handful of partners to leave Wilson Sonsini in recent weeks. They include IP partner Vera Elson, who joined McDermott Will & Emery on Aug. 7, and litigation partner Dana Haviland, who became the chief executive officer of Online Resolution Inc. on Aug. 6.

According to one industry observer who asked not to be named, departures at Wilson Sonsini should not be seen as part of a general trend of defections at the firm. Instead, she said, partners were leaving for their own reasons.