March 29, 2012
LOS ANGELES DAILY JOURNAL
By Kevin Lee
MENLO PARK – McDermott Will & Emery has bolstered their intellectual property litigation practice by acquiring a four-lawyer team from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP to work in its Menlo Park office.
Fabio E. Marino joined McDermott earlier this month as partner after working at Orrick since 2006, where he had served as the chair of the firm’s networking practice group. Prior to that, Marino worked at Bingham McCutchen LLP, where he was the co-chair of the patent litigation and prosecution practice.
“It was just an ideal situation of a firm that I knew really well,” Marino said. “I’ve worked with a lot of the partners both locally and in Silicon Valley and across the country,” he added, citing Menlo Park-based partners Terrence P. McMahon and Yar R. Chaikovsky and Washington D.C. based of counsel Raphael V. Lupo as examples. “It’s a very talented group of lawyers.”
Marino’s team includes Judith H.S. Hom, who specializes in biotechnology patents and IP work and joins McDermott as of counsel. Associates Nithin Gambhir and Barrington E. Dyer round out the new McDermott team.
San Diego-based legal recruiter Larry Watanabe brokered the team’s move to McDermott.
“We have been very much looking to grow the practice with either individuals or groups who can not only strengthen our practice but strengthen our relationships with clients in the Bay Area and beyond,” said Sarah Chapin Columbia, head of the McDermott’s intellectual property litigation practice. “Many of our partners had worked with Fabio directly and it was a very easy thing to think about Fabio as a partner.”
At Orrick, Marino had been representing San Jose-based Brocade Communications Systems Inc. in a patent infringement suit brought by San Jose-based A10 Networks in the California’s Northern District. Now at McDermott, Marino will continue to represent Brocade along with a team of Orrick lawyers, according to recent court filings. Marino is hopeful former clients come with him to McDermott.
McDermott hired new partners S. Michael Song in March and Bahnu Sadasivan in February to strengthen the firm’s IP litigation group in Menlo Park. Song specializes in IP litigation and counseling for technology companies, while Sadasivan focuses on life sciences.
The new hires offset some departures from McDermott’s Menlo Park office in January. Well-regarded IP litigator Vera M. Elson left for Sidley Austin LLP, while Alston & Bird LLP nabbed corporate partner Lior O. Nuchi and Baker Botts LLP snagged corporate partners Kyle Guse and Amar Murugan.