Kirkland & Ellis, which has had a busy few years in the lateral partner market, is already off to a fast start through only the second week of 2018.

After hiring Choate, Hall & Stewart private equity co-chair Christian Atwood in Boston earlier this week, Kirkland has also added Adam Petravicius, head of intellectual property transactions, sourcing and technology at Jenner & Block in Chicago. The move is a homecoming for Petravicius, who joined Jenner & Block in 2003 after leaving Kirkland.

Despite the two new hires, Kirkland suffered a lateral loss of its own Thursday, as Above the Law reported on longtime Kirkland partner and former appellate practice head Christopher Landau decamping for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in Washington, D.C.

Landau's departure comes a little more than a year after Kirkland bolted on appellate litigation boutique Bancroft and its marquee partner, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement.

“[Quinn Emanuel's] appellate practice has grown tremendously since Kathleen Sullivan launched it a dozen years ago, and I look forward to helping continue that growth in the years to come,” wrote Landau in an email confirming his move to the firm. “Kathleen was once my teacher in law school, and in the years since I haven't met a finer lawyer or person.”

Landau noted that he and Sullivan, who joined Quinn Emanuel in 2005, share the belief that a successful appellate practice must be “part and parcel of a firm's overall litigation practice.” He said that Quinn Emanuel provides an “unparalleled platform for appellate work at the highest level.”

In a statement, Landau's former firm wished him well.

“[Landau] is a talented lawyer, a trusted partner and a wonderful person,” said Eugene Assaf, a litigation partner at Kirkland and member of the firm's global management executive committee. “We will miss him, and we wish him every continued success in this next chapter of his career.”

The son of a diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to Chile, Paraguay and Venezuela, Landau was born in Spain and spent much of his childhood in South America. Over his roughly 25 years at Kirkland, Landau worked to establish its appellate practice in the nation's capital.

Landau has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court nine times, most recently in the case Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding and Perry v. Merit Systems Protection Board, the latter of which made him the first lawyer to argue before newly minted U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Landau joined Kirkland in 1993 following two stints clerking on the U.S. Supreme Court, first for former Associate Justice Antonin Scalia in 1990 and then current Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991. He became a partner at the firm in 1995. After President Donald Trump won the presidency in late 2016, Landau's name was mentioned as a potential pick for U.S. solicitor general, a role that eventually went to former Jones Day partner Noel Francisco.

As for Kirkland, which within the past month has made key hires in Asia, Boston and New York, the firm's reunion with Petravicius comes after he spent nearly the past 15 years at Jenner & Block. Petravicius began his legal career at Kirkland in 1995 and has since worked to build out a practice.

In 2003, Petravicius left Kirkland for Jenner & Block, where he later became head of the firm's IP transactions practice.

“It's not something I planned or expected,” Petravicius said of his move back to his former firm. “It just evolved as a great opportunity to return back to Kirkland.”

Petravicius, who did not use the services of a legal recruiter for the move, said his decision to leave Jenner & Block came about through discussions and conversations with his former colleagues at Kirkland. Since he left, Kirkland's technology and IP transactions practice has grown to more than 40 lawyers across the country.

And while his first day at Kirkland was Monday, Petravicius said he anticipates that there is still ample growth potential for the firm's IP transactions practice.

“The M&A and private equity platform here is thriving and the technology and IP transactions practices are a core part of [those] platforms, primarily because technology and IP continue to be drivers and important factors in those deals,” Petravicius said.

In a statement, Jenner & Block managing partner Terrence Truax wished Petravicius well in his return to Kirkland.