Peter Devlin, Fish & Richardson (Courtesy photo)

Many IP-focused firms have come and gone over the last 20 years, but Fish & Richardson is one of a handful that has continually thrived. Now, for the first time this century, the firm is gearing up for new leadership.

The Boston-based global intellectual property firm announced Friday that CEO Peter Devlin will be handing over the reins next month. Firm management has nominated Minneapolis principal John Adkisson to succeed him, subject to a vote of the firm's principals next month.

Over Devlin's 20 years at the helm, the 363-lawyer firm has doubled its head count, quadrupled revenues and maintained a spot on the AmLaw 100 since 2005, weathering both explosive growth and subsequent cooling in the IP market. The firm has been a pioneer in alternative fee arrangements in IP litigation, and was one of the quickest to scale up a Patent Trial and Appeal Board practice following passage of the America Invents Act. Fish opened six new offices during Devlin's tenure, including in Munich and Shenzhen, China.

"We've had a great run, and look forward to it continuing, for sure," Devlin said Friday.

The leadership change has been in the works for the last year. Devlin, 61, said that after two decades in the role and with the firm coming off four strong financial years, the time seemed right to step aside. The firm counted revenues per lawyer of $1.2 million in 2018 and profits per partner of $1.75 million.

Fish senior principal John Dragseth said Devlin nurtured a culture of selflessness at the firm that ties directly to its success. "For example, older attorneys have always been very willing to give responsibility to younger attorneys. We've always staffed without regard to where someone is located," Dragseth said. "We've stitched technical and non-technical people together well, and we've done a great job combining litigation and prosecution, which you can see" in the PTAB practice.

Devlin said he's always wanted to maintain a balance between litigation and prosecution, even as some other firms have gone all-in on litigation. Because of that balance, "when the AIA came into play, we had the ability to move right into that."

Devlin also presided over a culture of inclusion, especially the last few years. In 2019 the firm earned Diversity Lab's top designation for considering at least 30% diverse lawyer representation in leadership roles and committees. In January, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation recognized Fish as a "Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality."

Fish is also one of the few AmLaw 100 firms that includes an openly transgender partner. DJ Healey said that Devlin announced diversity as a top priority for the firm at a 2017 principals meeting, then tasked one of his most trusted aides "to work with me on making my transition as seamless as possible for me, co-workers and clients."

Devlin is also a strong believer in alternative fee arrangements, dating from his days as a patent prosecution associate in the 1980s. As CEO he's expanded them to the litigation side, which he said can be challenging due to the unpredictable nature of IP litigation. Today more than 30% of the firm's litigation work is on a fixed-fee basis, he said, along with "the vast majority" of prosecution work, including the PTAB practice.

One of the few false steps was an attempt to build out a corporate practice in the early 2000s. The firm was trying to match up with general practice firms that had been adding IP departments, Devlin said. "When the recession hit, it was clear it wasn't working," and the firm decided "we had to be true to ourselves" and focus on IP only.

Devlin said he's going to make himself available to his successor for as long as he's needed. He isn't sure after that if he'll stay with the firm in some capacity or do consulting work. He said his practicing days are behind him and that he intends to spend more time traveling with his wife and visiting his two children and two grandchildren.

Dragseth said that, until Devlin raised the issue of succession, people at Fish hadn't thought about it much. "I learned that there are about a million ways to do a transition improperly," Dragseth said. "So it's great that Peter gave a good warning, firm management put a process together and talked to everyone about it, and everyone took the time to work through that process."