February 25, 2002

THE CALIFORNIA LAW BUSINESS JOURNAL

ORANGE COUNTY – McDermott Will: PATENT PROSECUTION GURU ESTABLISHES NEW PRACTICE

McDermott Will & Emery has recruited attorney Mark Itri to its Irvine office, where he will start a new intellectual property group.

The new McDermott partner, who joined Feb. 1, focuses on patent and trademark prosecution and litigation. The 39-year-old lawyer also advises clients on strategic planning for their patent portfolios.

Itri comes from intellectual property boutique Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto, where he had practiced law since 1991. Itri was so eager to start his new job that he left Fitzpatrick Cella’s Costa Mesa office at 3 p.m. on Feb. 1 and started at McDermott at 5:30 p.m. that same evening, attending a client meeting at the firm.

Although the day was rushed, he says he says he didn’t mind it.

“It was exciting to know there was work waiting for my arrival,” says Itri, whose book of business is more than $1 million and could remain as high as $1.5 million depending on how many of his clients follow him to McDermott.

He expects at least four to follow but declined to name them.

Itri’s new intellectual property prosecution group will complement the intellectual property litigation group and corporate group in that office, according to Fay Morisseau, managing partner of the local outpost.

“Adding Mark in the IP group will help us fill a marketing niche that few, if any, other Orange County firms have, because we will be able to offer emerging companies not only our corporate services but also our IP prosecution services, as well as being able to call in our IP litigation services on an as-needed basis,” he says.

Legal recruiter Bill Nason of Watanabe Nason & Seltzer brokered the deal. Mike O’Neill, who manages Fitzpatrick Cella’s Costa Mesa office, calls Itri a close personal friend and says he wishes him well.

Fitzpatrick Cella has its main office in New York and additional offices in Washington, D.C., and Orange County. It has about 150 lawyers firmwide. Chicago’s McDermott Will, a full-service law firm with 925 lawyers, has 10 offices.