June 29, 2007

THE DAILY JOURNAL

By Arthur Haynes

SILICON VALLEY – Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe’s intellectually-property practice is growing, in head count and cases, “like gangbusters,” said Steven S. Baik, the group’s newest partner.

The litigator joined the practice May 22 in Orrick Herrington’s Silicon Valley office from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Baik’s technology background and the Asia-focused aspect of his practice are in high demand, according to Gary E. Weiss, managing partner of Orrick Herrington’s Silicon Valley shop and chair of the firm’s intellectual-property group.

Weiss added that Baik is an important addition to Orrick Herrington’s 130-attorney intellectual-property practice, which counts clients in the United States, Asia and Europe.

Baik holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and Stanford University, respectively. His client list has included Milpitas-based flash-memory-technology designer SanDisk, backup-power-solutions manufacturer American Power Conversion Corp. and Taiwan-based MediaTek.

Baik has tried patent cases in federal courts and before the U.S. International Trade Commission and has negotiated patent and intellectual-property-licensing agreements for clients in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Europe. He has extensive experience prosecuting patents and managing large portfolios for clients.

“He’s brilliant,” Weiss said. “He’s exactly what our growing IP practice needs.”

Baik declined to identify clients he would transition to Orrick Herrington but said his new firm presents opportunities to build on the Asia aspect of his practice.

Orrick Herrington put its name on three former Coudert Brothers outposts in 2005 and 2006. In 1972, Coudert became the first foreign law firm to open an office in Hong Kong; seven years later, it became the first foreign law firm to establish a permanent presence in Beijing.

In 2005, Orrick Herrington absorbed the lion’s share of Coudert’s China practice, including 110 employees, upon that firm’s dissolution. Coudert’s 25-attorney Hong Kong office joined Orrick Herrington immediately.

Last year, China’s Ministry of Justice granted an unprecedented license transfer for Coudert’s Beijing and Shanghai shops. Today, Orrick Herrington counts 40 attorneys and 12 consultants among the three China outposts.

Baik said he has filled his calendar with trips to Japan and Taiwan to meet with Orrick Herrington partners and clients.

“If you look at the amount of contacts and the work that Orrick is doing over in Asia on the IP-litigation side, I don’t think there’s any firm that can compare,” he said. “We’re all working as a team to capture as much as we can.”

Wilson Sonsisi’s intellectual-property-litigation capabilities in Asia have not developed as rapidly as Orrick Herrington’s have. Carmen I. Chang, a Wilson Sonsini corporate partner, has developed a highly regarded Asia practice, but the firm’s capabilities do not extend much beyond that, Baik said.

A Wilson Sonsini spokeswoman declined comment Friday, other than to say that the firm has a strong and growing Asia practice. She wished Baik well at Orrick Herrington on behalf of Wilson Sonsisi.

After his graduate studies, Baik was an inventor at Ampex Corp., an industry leader in visual-information technology. The Redwood City-based company developed videotape recording.

During his two years at Ampex, Baik was involved in patenting audio technology related to a video recorder. His participation was in a nonlegal capacity, but he said it piqued his interest in intellectual-property law.

Baik earned his law degree at Hastings College of the Law and worked for a year at Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin before joining Wilson Sonsini in 1998.

His tenure at Wilson Sonsini sandwiched a 2½-year in-house stint at SanDisk, where he was responsible for doubling the company’s patent portfolio.