April 12, 2004
THE DAILY JOURNAL
By Tina Spee
ORANGE COUNTY -McDermott, Will & Emery has nabbed three associates in as many months from the Costa Mesa office of Washington, D.C. based intellectual property firm Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto.
Intellectual property attorney Dennis Alan Duchene became a partner at the Irvine office of Chicago based McDermott Will on March 22.
During this year, David E. A. Jordan and Andrew D. Mickelsen also joined the firm’s Irvine office as associates in its intellectual property group.
Duchene says he moved to McDermott Will from Fitzpatrick Cella because he wanted to bring his patent prosecution practice to a more dynamic environment.
“There really is quite a bit of cross-practice coordination between the various practices here at McDermott,” Duchene says. “It makes it easier for the clients to receive a full service from a single law firm.”
Duchene’s patent prosecution and patent litigation support will focus on work related to computer software, the Internet, networks, and mechanical and electrical devices.
“[Duchene] is an excellent attorney and a very good person to work with,” says Fay Morisseau, managing partner of McDermott Will’s Irvine office. “We’ve had a real increase and demand from our clients for top-notch IP prosecution work.”
Like Duchene, Jordan and Mickelsen handle patent prosecution.
McDermott Will has 1,000 lawyers in six foreign offices and nine U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and Palo Alto. Half of the 34 lawyers in its Irvine office and 16 percent of its firmwide practice is devoted to intellectual property matters.
Michael O’Neill, managing partner of Fitzpatrick Cella’s Costa Mesa office, refused to comment for this story. According to its website, the firm has 160 attorneys in three offices, including New York.
Both Dennis Duchene and Andrew Mickelsen were represented by Watanabe Nason & Seltzer.