Keker & Van Nest is the gold standard for litigation boutiques. But on Monday, the firm lost a little bit of its luster as a handful of its patent litigation stars left to form their own firm.

Law partners (and life partners) Daralyn Durie and Ragesh Tangri are setting out with Stanford patent law professor Mark Lemley and Keker partners Clement Roberts and Ryan Kent to found Durie Tangri Lemley Roberts & Kent.