Pennie & Edmonds, one of the US' most respected IP boutiques, has closed its doors with the bulk of the firm's practice being shared among Jones Day, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu.

Twenty-eight of the firm's 47 partners opted to move to Cleveland-based Jones Day on 1 January, leaving the firm to officially close on 31 December.

The deal, which totals 100 lawyers, includes attorneys from Pennies' New York base and its branches in Washington DC and California.

In addition to Jones Day's haul, a number of other major firms have taken senior lawyers from Pennies, including New York IP litigation partners James Dabney and Stephen Rabinowitz, who both moved to Fried Frank on 31 December.

Two more Pennies New York partners, David Weild and Maria Scungio, are set to join trademark boutique Frodd Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu.

The news came after Morgan Lewis announced that it was to take Pennies' six Palo Alto partners as well as two East Coast partners.

The break up of Pennies, which in 2002 had a turnover of $125m, comes despite its reputation as one of the US' most successful boutiques.

However, the firm has been hit, along with many of the US' IP specialists, by predatory raids from large corporate firms eager to bolster their contentious practices.

Jones Day managing partner Stephen Brogan said: "The group, who possess extensive experience in IP law, will combine with a comparable complement of IP lawyers already at Jones Day."