Paul Tanck, chair of Chadbourne & Parke's intellectual property practice in New York, is headed to Alston & Bird ahead of his firm's proposed combination with Norton Rose Fulbright.

Tanck, whose last name is pronounced like the piece of military hardware, leaves a firm where he began his legal career as a summer associate in 2003. In November 2012, Tanck made partner at Chadbourne. At the time, Cooley had just hired the firm's top IP lawyers in New York, so Tanck was in a position to quickly assume leadership of the patent practice.

Chadbourne's looming union with Norton Rose Fulbright, which Tanck said he hopes will be “accretive” for both firms, made it an ideal time for the 37-year-old lawyer to think of what kind of platform would be best for his clients. Tanck said he represents industrial manufacturers like Johnson Controls International plc, Rockwell Automation Inc. and Tyco International Ltd. on “all forms of IP litigation,” be it patent suits, trade secrets cases or trademarks and copyrights.