August 12, 2013

THE DAILY JOURNAL

By Alexandra Schwappach

SAN DIEGO – Blake Allen, who joined the firm last week from Duane Morris, is among a handful of recent Procopio additions

Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP nabbed a corporate partner for its San Diego office from Duane Morris LLP, the firm announced last week. The addition follows growth in the firm’s intellectual property litigation practice earlier this year.

Blake Allen, who started at Procopio on Thursday, practices corporate law with an emphasis on securities matters and public company representation. Allen said a number of things attracted him to Procopio, including the firm’s deep corporate bench strength.

“Procopio sees its corporate representation as a real service we can provide to public company clients that are being priced out of the top tier of services,” he said. “It’s a great group [and I’m] really looking forward to working with them.”

Allen has represented issuers and venture capital investors in connection with public and private issuances of equity and debt. He’s also represented buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions. In 2010, Allen represented independent energy company Arena Resources Inc. in its $1.6 billion acquisition by SandRidge Energy Inc.

“I think he’ll just be a perfect addition for us, and he’ll fit in beautifully at Procopio,” managing partner Thomas Turner said. “His skill set and background is the perfect complement to our existing corporate and business tech practices.”

In May, the firm began growing its intellectual property litigation practice with the additions of senior counsels J. Christopher Jaczko and Mindy M. Morton. Robert H. Sloss joined as an IP litigation partner in early August.

Formerly with Cooley LLP, Jaczko represents a number of publicly traded and venture-backed biotechnology companies in patent and licensing matters. He joined the firm in San Diego.

Morton, formerly at Bergeson LLP, joined the firm in Silicon Valley. She handles trade secret, patent, trademark, copyright, computer fraud and noncompete agreement litigation.

Previously serving as the senior corporate counsel at computer technology company Oracle Corp., Sloss has litigated patent infringement cases in tech areas including software, hardware, devices and biotechnology. He will practice as partner out of the firm’s Silicon Valley office.

Now is a “strong period of growth” for Procopio, Turner said. The firm is especially looking to add to its public companies securities work in San Diego.

“That area has been relatively slow since the downturn, but it’s starting to pick back up again,” Turner said. “We anticipate that there’s going to be an overall growth in the number of deals out there.”

Larry Watanabe, a San Diego legal recruiter who brokered Allen’s and Morton’s moves to Procopio, said the firm is continuing to grow and expand across California.

“Procopio has dramatically increased its market share and niche since I began working with them some 20 years ago,” he said.