Lovells has launched a US patent litigation practice with the hire of a partner from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Veronica Mullally joined the firm's New York arm last week as a member of the intellectual property, media and technology practice (IPMT).

Mullally, who trained as a scientist and focuses on life sciences and pharmaceutical work, is the firm's first dedicated IP partner in the US. She has worked for clients including Johnson & Johnson, Alcon and DowAgro Sciences.

Lovells' IPMT practice has around 270 lawyers, of who more than 100 specialise in patent litigation. The practice's clients include RIM, Qualcomm and Merck.

Burkhart Goebel, head of Lovells' IP practice, told Legal Week the firm intended to build a patent litigation practice around Mullally and could expand into broader IP work in the future. He said: "This is the first step in building our US life sciences/patent litigation practice. We have a strong practice and it is only natural that we undertake to develop it. This will make us one of very few firms that can offer integrated handling of major patent litigation internationally."

The hire is the 19th lateral partner appointment Lovells has made this calendar year and follows last week's appointment of environment partner Christopher Norton from Baker & McKenzie. Growing its New York and Chicago offices is an important part of Lovells' US strategy and Mullally's hire is the fifth across these offices since the beginning of the year.